With the passing of Her majesty Queen Elizabeth 2nd and her internment on Monday, September 19th at Westminster Abbey. I will share with you some anecdotes on The Royals, British Jewry, and Israel.
A special prayer said for the Welfare of the Royal Family
Every Shabbat Jews in their synagogues in all countries of the Commonwealth say a special prayer, “The Prayer for the welfare of the Government and the Royal Family.” This prayer is based on the words of prophet Jeremiah “Seek the well-being of the city… for in its peace shall you have peace” (Jer. 29:7).
The Royal family visits to Israel
Queen Elizabeth II never made an official visit to the Jewish State. In her six decades of reign, she has made hundreds of royal visits to 129 different countries, though never once been to Israel.
Prince Philip made a personal visit to Israel in 1994 to honour his mother, Princess Alice of Greece, who is buried on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. Prince Charles visited Israel in 1995 and 2016 to attend the funerals of Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres. Those stays were not, however, official royal visits. In 2018, Queen Elizabeth’s grandson Prince William went on the first official visit to Israel.
We can only speculate the reasons why the foreign office did not allow her to travel to Israel. However, the queen hosted numerous Israeli leaders in Buckingham Palace. Notably the second Israeli envoy to the UK, Eliahu Eilat, was granted a rare sit-down dinner and overnight visit with the queen at Windsor Castle in 1959. In 2008 president Peres was knighted by Queen Elizabeth upon the invitation of the British government.
Queen Elizabeth II, relationship with British Jewry
Queen Elizabeth II, who sat on the throne for 70 years enjoyed a long and warm relationship with the British Jewish community, from the start of her reign in 1952 through her final years. Jewish officials—as well as the Israeli ambassador—were present at her coronation at Westminster Abbey on the 2 June 1953.
On January 27, 2005, the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, Queen Elizabeth hosted a group of Holocaust survivors in St. James’s Palace in the centre of London. Notably punctual, on this occasion the Queen threw protocol to the wind.
Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks was present and later recounted: “When the time came for her to leave, she stayed. One of her attendants said that he had never known her to linger so long after her scheduled departure. She gave each survivor, her focused, unhurried attention. She stood with each until they had finished telling their personal story.
“It was an act of kindness that had me in tears. One after another, the survivors came to me, saying: ‘Sixty years ago I did not know if I would be alive tomorrow, and here I am today talking to the Queen.”
Prince Charles and Jewish traditions
Queen Elizabeth II took an Orthodox Jewish mohel to circumcise her son Prince Charles. Rabbi Jacob Snowman (1871-1959) was a London mohel of great renown. The tradition of British royals to ask Jewish mohels to circumcise their sons goes back to King George I, who was born in Hanover, Germany, and reigned over England from 1714-1727. In Germany, some aristocratic parents hired Jewish mohels, and George I brought the custom with him to England. Years later his great great granddaughter Queen Victoria hired Jewish mohels to circumcise all her sons.
King Charles III owns his own personalized kippah a blue velvet yarmulke adorned with the official royal crest of the Prince of Wales, his previous title, embroidered in gold and white thread. One of the first sightings of the royal kippah was at the installation of Britain’s Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mervis in 2013. Charles was the first member of the royal family to attend an installation of a chief rabbi.
King Charles deep friendship with the late Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks
King Charles and the late Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, the former Chief Rabbi of Britain, of blessed memory, forged a close bond, brought together by their public roles as community leaders in Britain and by their shared commitment to making the world a better place. When Rabbi Sacks died in 2020, Charles delivered an emotional eulogy for his friend and teacher.
King Charles adds paintings of Holocaust survivors to the official Royal Collection
In 2022 King Charles commissioned seven new paintings of Holocaust survivors to add to the official Royal Collection of art, displayed in Buckingham Palace. The project was part of the prince’s long-standing aim of educating future generations and ensuring that the horrors of the Holocaust are never forgotten.
King Charles himself wrote an introduction to the exhibit’s catalogue:
“Behind every portrait is a unique story, of a life lived, of love, of loss. However, these portraits represent something far greater than seven remarkable individuals. They stand as a living memorial to the six million innocent men, women, and children whose stories will never be told, whose portraits will never be painted.
They stand as a permanent reminder for our generation—and indeed, to future generations—of the depths of depravity and evil humankind can fall to when reason, compassion and truth are abandoned.”
As Prince Charles, the new king has been at the forefront of promoting interfaith relations, for which he was honoured last year by the Council of Christians and Jews. Recently at a landmark meeting between The King and leaders of various faith communities at Buckingham Palace. The king brought forward the audience to allow Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis to be able to return home in time for the Jewish Sabbath, which starts Friday.
At his Coronation King Charles will be formally know as the defender of faiths, he has certainly shown a warmth, affinity and respect for Israel, Jewish leaders and traditions which augers well for the future.
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