King Charles joins King Frederik and Queen Mary and other royalty for ceremony marking 80 years since liberation of Auschwitz

King Charles III has joined royalty from across Europe in Poland to commemorate 80 years since the liberation of Auschwitz.

Becoming the first British monarch to visit the former Nazi-run camp, Charles attended a solemn ceremony at Auschwitz-Birkenau where he laid a candle at an original railway wagon, symbolising the way the victims – mainly Jews – were transported to their deaths.

Meanwhile in London, the Princess of Wales joined her husband at a Holocaust Memorial Day service where she was seen hugging survivors, while Prince William praised the bravery of his great-grandmother, Princess Alice, who sheltered persecuted Jews in Athens.

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Also attending the ceremony on Monday in Poland were King Frederik and Queen Mary of Denmark, King Willem-Alexander, Queen Maxima and Princess Amalia of the Netherlands, Spain's King Felipe and Queen Letizia, King Philippe and Queen Mathilde of Belgium, Crown Prince Haakon of Norway and Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden.

Religious and world leaders were also in attendance, including Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky who is Jewish and was applauded when he laid his candle.

The ceremony was led by survivors, who recounted the horrors of being at the camp, including Tova Friedman, 86, who was seven years old when Auschwitz was liberated.

"I represent the children," she said.

"There are very few of us left. From my town [Gdynia in Poland] four children survived, so I am here to talk about those who aren't here."

She spoke of being aged five and seeing "all my little friends were rounded up and driven to their deaths, when the heart-breaking cries of their parents fell on deaf ears.

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"After all the children were gone and the courtyard was empty, I thought to myself 'Am I the only Jewish child left in the world?'"

Friedman said she came to believe "that it was normal if you were a Jewish child, you had to die".

King Charles was seen wiping his eyes at times during the ceremony.

Afterwards, the 76-year-old walked through the gates and viewed personal items confiscated from the camp's victims and laid a wreath at the "death wall".

Speaking at the Jewish Community Centre in central Krakow before the service, King Charles said it was "both a sombre and indeed a sacred moment" to be in Poland for the anniversary.

The King said "in a world that remains full of turmoil and strife" he urged people to "remember the depths to which humanity can sink".

"It is a moment when we recall the six million Jews, old and young, who were systematically murdered, together with Sinti, Roma, disabled people, members of the LGBT community, political prisoners and so many others upon whom the Nazis inflicted their violence and hatred," the King said.

"As the number of Holocaust Survivors regrettably diminishes with the passage of time, the responsibility of remembrance rests far heavier on our shoulders, and on those of generations yet unborn.

"The act of remembering the evils of the past remains a vital task and in so doing, we inform our present and shape our future."

The King, as Prince of Wales, formally opened the centre in 2008.

Charles III has spent years working with victims and survivors of the Holocaust, ensuring their stories are not forgotten and carried out through a new generation.

Speaking at a Holocaust education event at Buckingham Palace earlier this month the King said about his visit to Poland: "I feel I must for the 80th anniversary," adding: "It's so important."

The King, who is patron of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, has previously visited other concentration camps but never Auschwitz, until now.

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Queen Camilla, when Duchess of Cornwall, represented the royal family at Auschwitz for the 75th anniversary, while Princess Anne has previously visited.

But the late Queen Elizabeth II never did, instead visiting the Bergen-Belsen camp in 2015.

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