The heir to the British throne, Prince Charles, will visit Israel in January to mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp.
"I am delighted HRH the Prince of Wales has accepted President Reuven Rivlin’s invitation, and will come to Israel to participate in the Yad Vashem ceremony commemorating the 75th Anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau,' British Ambassador to Israel Neil Wigan said in a statement.
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Prince Charles at the funeral for Shimon Peres in Jerusalem, Sept. 2016
(Photo: Reuters)
"Prince Charles has visited Israel twice in the past, and I am pleased that this time he will get to see a bit more of Israel," Wigan said.
Charles' paternal grandmother Princess Alice of Battenberg is buried in Jerusalem and has been honored by Yad Vashem as a Righteous Among Nations for saving a Jewish family from the Nazis in Greece during the Holocaust.
Charles' two previous visits to Israel were in an unofficial capacity - to attend the 2016 funeral for late president Shimon Peres and in 1995 for the funeral of slain prime minister Yitzhak Rabin.
His father has also made unofficial visits to the grave of his mother and for the Yad Vashem ceremony at which she was honored for her actions during World War II.
For many years, the British royal family avoided making an official visit to Israel, citing the ongoing conflict with the Palestinians.
That policy came to an end in June 2018, when Charles' son Prince William made a three-day trip to Israel.
He visited Tel Aviv and Jerusalem and also met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
The commemoration for the liberation of Auschwitz coincides with the fifth World Holocaust Forum - "Remembering the Holocaust, Fighting Antisemitism," which will be hosted by Rivlin and attended by dozens of world leaders.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, French President Emmanuel Macron and the presidents of Germany, Italy and Austria are among those who have already confirmed their participation.
Rivlin called it a "one of a kind" gathering devoted to the threat of anti-Semitism and passing Holocaust remembrance to "generations who will live in a world without survivors."