Last week, Prince Charles made history when he became the first British royal to make an “official” trip to Israel. He went there to join other leaders at the World Holocaust Forum in Jerusalem commemorating the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. This was not the first time, though, that a member of the Royal Family had commemorated the atrocities of the Holocaust. And in one striking case, a royal played a pivotal role in saving Jewish lives.

Which brings us to the story of Princess Alice and her ties to the Holocaust – and Israel. Anyone familiar with the third season of The Crown will already be acquainted with the redoubtable princess (played by the remarkable Jane Lapotaire). While the television series focused on the princess’ difficult relationship with her son, Prince Philip, it did not focus on her heroism.

Prince Charles visits grandmother’s grave in Jerusalem (2020)

During the Second World War, Princess Alice was living in Athens as the Germans occupied the city and began to hunt for Jews. The Greek royal family was acquainted with the Cohen family who were desperately seeking shelter. At personal risk, Princess Alice helped them until liberation. I particularly like this anecdote from the Yad Vashem site: “There were times when the Germans became suspicious, and Princess Alice was even interviewed by the Gestapo. Using her deafness, she pretended not to understand their questions until they left her alone.”

Not long before her death in 1969, Princess Alice expressed the wish to be buried in Jerusalem. In 1993, Yad Vashem bestowed the title of Righteous Among the Nations on the Princess.

From the Prince’s remarks during his “unofficial” visit to Yad Vashem in October 1994: “I suspect that it never occurred to her that her action was in any way special. She would have considered it to be a perfectly natural human reaction to fellow beings in distress.”

(Despite Princess Alice’s heroic efforts, Haaretz did point out that the British Royal Family has a “complicated history” with Nazi Germany. Three of Alice’s daughters were married to prominent Nazis.)

Elizabeth II visits Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany

Flash forward two decades to the first visit by Queen Elizabeth to a Nazi death camp in 2015. The Queen was accompanied by Prince Philip and U.K. Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in northern Germany. The Queen laid a wreath in memory of 50,000 prisoners who were murdered there including Anne Frank.

As described by the BBC, “There was no pomp or ceremony; just a couple from the wartime generation taking their time to reflect and to pay their respects. … The survivors and the liberators told them about their shared experience of horror. At the end, the Queen said to one person: ‘It’s difficult to imagine isn’t it?’”

Last December, the Queen named 31 individuals in her New Year’s Honours List for their contribution to Holocaust Education. Among them were many survivors including sisters Gisela Feldman, 96 and Sonja Sternberg, 93, of Manchester. As passengers of the ill-fated MS St. Louis, the so-called “Voyage of the Damned,” the sisters tried to flee the Nazis. They were refused safe entry in North America and were forced to return to Europe. Later, 254 of the ship’s passengers perished in the Holocaust.

Ms. Feldman told the BBC, “We are the last generation of eyewitnesses – people cannot deny what we experienced. … It is important that the next generation learn about the Holocaust because what happened to us is still happening today and not just to Jewish people.”

While Prince Charles was returning from Israel, his wife, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall was setting off for a memorial ceremony at Auschwitz-Birkenau. There she joined 200 survivors along with royalty from Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Spain, Norway and Sweden. At the conclusion of the ceremony, Camilla met with Holocaust survivors Hannah Lewis and Renee Salt. “It’s always blood-chilling,” said Lewis, 82, of her third visit to Auschwitz since the war. The weather was right too. “It’s cold, it’s grey — it was uncompromising.”

Also this week, a newer member of the Royal Family revealed that she has been involved in a project honouring British survivors and documenting their legacy. Kate Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge, is among a dozen photographers depicting “the special connection between a survivor and younger generations of their family, who over the coming years will carry on the legacy of their grandparents. The project is a collaboration between the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, Jewish News and the Royal Photographic Society.

Four photos have been released to date, two of which were taken by Kate. One charming portrait depicts Steven Frank, 84, lovingly accompanied by his granddaughters, Maggie, 15 and Trixie, 13.

The Duchess, who is also Patron of the Royal Photographic Society, said of the project, “Despite unbelievable trauma at the start of their lives, Yvonne Bernstein and Steven Frank are two of the most life-affirming people that I have had the privilege to meet. They look back on their experiences with sadness but also with gratitude that they were some of the lucky few to make it through. …

“Whilst I have been lucky enough to meet two of the now very few survivors, I recognize not everyone in the future will be able to hear these stories first hand. It is vital that their memories are preserved and passed on to future generations, so that what they went through will never be forgotten.”