Page 26 - TORCH Magazine #10 - June 2018

PRINCE WILLIAM TO VISIT ISRAEL
Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge, will touch down in Tel Aviv on 25 June for the rst o cial
Royal visit to Israel.
Although members of the Royal Family have made uno cial visits in the past, it will be the rst o cial Royal visit in the State of Israel’s 70 year history and follows Kensington Palace’s announcement in March that the Duke of Cambridge will visit this summer. The three day visit by the Prince, whose great-grandmother is buried at the Mount of Olives, will include Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Ramallah, concluding in Jerusalem on the 28th.
No member of the Royal Family has made an o cial trip to Israel since it was established in 1948, despite a series of invitations from the Israeli government.
The second in line to the throne will also visit Jordan a day before visiting Israel.
When the visit was rst announced in March, Mark Regev, Israel’s ambassador to Britain, said: “Israel looks forward to welcoming
His Royal Highness this summer, for what promises to be an exciting and historic visit.”
Prime Minister Netanyahu said: “We welcome the announcement of the arrival
of Prince William to Israel. This is a historic visit, the rst of its kind, and it will be greeted here with great a ection.”
Prince William will meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas. Although a visit to the Western Wall and Temple Mount haven’t been con rmed at the time of this article, we do know that he will visit the national Holocaust memorial, Yad Vashem, attend a football event hosted by charities involved in co-existence between young people, receive a tour of Israeli tech innovation, and view the Old City of Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, where he will also attend the grave of Prince Phillip’s mother.
Following the funeral of Shimon Peres, Prince Charles visited the grave of his grandmother, Princess Alice of Battenberg, who was recognised as ‘Righteous Among the Nations’ by Yad Vashem for sheltering Jewish refugees in Athens. She is buried at the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem where the Prince placed owers – which he picked himself from his Scottish retreat of Birkhall.
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CUFI.ORG.UK
Find out more about Prince William’s family connection to Jerusalem at www.cu .org.uk/spotlight/prince- williams-family-connection-to-jerusalem/