News
The Prince of Wales praises the Jewish Community in Britain
5th July 2011
The Prince of Wales spoke this evening about the "talents and contributions" of the Jewish community in Britain.
Addressing the 250th anniversary dinner of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, His Royal Highness praised their achievements in "every sphere of British life", including the arts, sciences, medicine and trade and commerce.
"If there is anything to regret in all this, it is that the talents and contributions of our Jewish community are not, to my mind at any rate, sufficiently well known by the public at large," he said.
He also told the gathering at Guildhall in central London that British society had benefited from a "great deal of Jewish philanthropy".
Recalling his own efforts to "make a bit of a difference" for Jewish communities around the world, he cited his encouragement of the building of a Jewish community centre in Krakow, Poland.
He was, he indicated, following in the footsteps of his father, The Duke of Edinburgh.
At school in Germany in 1933, The Duke of Edinburgh had helped an older schoolboy who had been identified as Jewish, set upon and had his hair cut off.
"I shall always be proud of my father's act of compassion," he said.
And he reminded his audience of the welcome his royal forebears had given their Jewish ancestors from countries all over Europe, North Africa, Iran, Iraq and southern Africa.