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The Princess of Wales hugged and held hands with Holocaust survivors as she attended official commemorations in London to mark Holocaust Memorial Day.
Kate joined her husband Prince William, the Prince of Wales, who described their attendance at Guildhall in central London on the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz as "a great honour”.
King Charles laid a candle in memory of the Holocaust victims who died at Auschwitz-Birkenau at a moving ceremony attended by world leaders at the site of the death camp.
Holocaust survivor Marian Turski urged the world to think of the victims "who will never tell us what they experienced or they felt" as world leaders gathered.
Charles earlier paid tribute to victims and warned of the "dangerous re-emergence of antisemitism" while on a visit to the Jewish Community Centre in Krakow.
More than 1.1 million people, mostly Jews, perished in gas chambers or from starvation, cold and disease at Auschwitz.
Scroll down for the latest updates.
King Charles to visit Auschwitz on Holocaust Memorial Day Holocaust survivor calls for tolerance: ‘We all come from same family’ 'I thought that we all had to die. That it was normal if you are a Jewish child' says Holocaust survivorLive updates
Live coverage ends
The Evening Standard’s live coverage of Holocaust Memorial Day has ended.
Read all the latest stories from the Standard here.
King say visit to Auschwitz 'something I will never forget'
The King has described his historic visit to Auschwitz as “something that I will never forget” and said remembering the “horrors” of the concentration camp was a “sacred duty”.
Charles and other world figures joined Auschwitz survivors for a poignant ceremony to remember and mourn all those murdered at the infamous, German-occupied site liberated 80 years ago.
For the King the visit – the first by a British monarch to Auschwitz – was said to be profound and Charles appeared emotional at one point and wiped his eye.
Candles were left by heads of state and government after the survivors had placed their flickering tributes, and Charles placed his light with both hands, before taking a step back and bowing his head.
Read more about the King’s visit to Poland here.
The King joined Auschwitz survivors for a poignant ceremonyPA WireStarmer: Holocaust was ‘collective endeavour’ by ordinary people consumed by hatred
The Prime Minister has said the Holocaust was a “collective endeavour” by ordinary people “consumed by the hatred of difference”.
It is now a collective endeavour for “all of us” to defeat the “hatred we stand against today”, Sir Keir Starmer said in a speech to mark Holocaust Memorial Day.
He spoke of his “harrowing” visit to Block 27 at Auschwitz with his wife Victoria earlier this month to search for members of her family in the Book of Names.
“We turned page after page after page just to find the first letter of a name. It gave me an overwhelming sense of the sheer scale of this industrialised murder.
“And every one of those names, like the names we were looking for – was an individual person. Someone’s mother, father, brother, sister brutally murdered, simply because they were Jewish.”
You can read more about what the Prime Minister said here.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer during a reception to mark Holocaust Memorial Day at 10 Downing StreetPA WireKate hugs Holocaust survivors at remembrance event in London
The Princess of Wales hugged and held hands with Holocaust survivors as she attended official commemorations to mark Holocaust Memorial Day.
Kate joined her husband the Prince of Wales, who described their attendance as “a great honour”, at Guildhall in central London on the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.
The annual event remembers the six million Jewish people murdered during the Holocaust, as well as the millions of other people killed under Nazi persecution and those who died in subsequent genocides.
William, wearing a navy suit and blue tie, and Kate, wearing all black, were greeted on arrival by Olivia Marks-Woldman, chief executive of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, and its chairwoman of trustees Laura Marks.
The Princess of Wales hugs Yvonne Bernstein during a ceremony to commemorate Holocaust Memorial DayArthur Edwards/The Sun/PA Wire
The Prince and Princess of Wales light candles during a ceremony on Holocaust Memorial DayArthur Edwards/The Sun/PA Wire
The Princess of Wales meets Yvonne Bernstein during a ceremony at London's GuildhallArthur Edwards/The Sun/PA WirePhotos capture King Charles laying candle
After a prayer by a group of clerics representing Judaism, the Catholic and Protestant churches, Greek Orthodox and Islam, survivors, accompanied by family members, were invited to leave symbolic candles in memory of those who died at Auschwitz.
The elderly men and women placed the lights on a table and they were followed by the heads of state and Government.
The King was among a group of foreign monarchs, including King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands and Spain’s King Philip VI and Queen Letizia, and placed his light among a growing number with both hands, before taking a step back and bowing his head.
King Charles arrives to place a votive candle in front of the train car, the symbol of the eventAFP via Getty Images
King Charles lays a candle during commemorations at Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland to mark 80 years since the liberation of the concentration campvia REUTERSKing Charles, world leaders and Holocaust survivors places candle on train car
King Charles has joined world leaders in placing a candle on an empty wooden train car, which sits on the tracks at Auschwitz.
The car carried people to the camps, and is regarded as a symbol of death.
Auschwitz survivors have also laid candles during the commemorations at Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland to mark 80 years since the liberation of the concentration camp.
Survivors place candles in front of the train car, the symbol of the event, to pay tribute to the victims who died at the concentration campAFP via Getty ImagesWorld leaders and Holocaust survivors mark 80 years since the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp
World leaders, members of royal families from across the world and Holocaust survivors have helped mark 80 years since the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp.
Here are some of the best photos from the day so far.
Queen Mathilde of Belgium and King Charles attend the ceremonyGetty Images
The gate to Auschwitz II-Birkenau is seen during an event to mark the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the concentration and extermination campREUTERS
Survivor Tova Friedman speaks during a commemoration event marking the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi German Auschwitz-BirkenauREUTERS
Chief Rabbi of Poland Michael Schudrich says a prayer during the commemorationsAFP via Getty ImagesPrincess of Wales, to attend Holocaust Memorial Day event with Prince William in London
The Princess of Wales will join her husband to attend official commemorations to mark Holocaust Memorial Day.
William and Kate will pay their respects at a service in London on the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz on Monday.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is also expected to attend and speak at the service, along with faith and civic leaders and survivors of the Holocaust and more recent genocides.
The annual event remembers the six million Jewish people murdered during the Holocaust, as well as the millions of other people killed under Nazi persecution and those who died in subsequent genocides.
You can read more about the event here.
'The prayers of so many desperate women permeated my soul and haunt me to this day'
One of the most powerful moments form the commemoration event at Auschwitz has been a speech from one of its youngest survivors Tova Friedman.
Ms Friedman spoke for the children and told guests she was six years old when she was liberated from the Nazi death camp.
She described her journey to the concentration camp: “Hungry, thirsty and very terrified I held on tightly to my mother’s hand in the dark cattle car for countless hours while the cries and the prayers of so many desperate women permeated my soul and haunt me to this day.
“Finally, we arrived at Auschwitz, a gloomy Sunday with a sky obscured by smoke and a terrible stink hung in the air, and there were rows and rows of naked women all around me.”
During her time in the camp she thought it was “normal” to die if you were a Jewish child.
She went on to urge the guests: “We all, all of us, must reawaken our collective conscious to transform this violence, anger, hatred and malignancy, that has so powerfully gripped our society, into a humane and just world. Before this terrible, terrible negative forces will destroy us all.”
Auschwitz survivor Tova Friedman during commemorations on the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-BirkenauAFP via Getty ImagesOctober 7 attacks and Auschwitz have 'common thread' says Ronald Lauder
The President of the World Jewish Congress Ronald Lauder has now made an address on behalf of the major donors of the Memorial and Museum Auschwitz-Birkenau.
He said: “It is hard for us to believe what we see today. The sudden violence of hatred against Jews.
“The singling out of the one Jewish state. Huge demonstrations shouting antisemitic slurs everywhere.
“This is hard for us to watch, any of us but I can not imagine what this must be like for the almost 50 survivors who are here today.”
He later added: “We know that 1.5 million children were killed in the Holocaust. The most heartbreaking number in an ocean of heartbreak.
“But 15 months ago, not 80 years ago, we saw Jewish children slaughtered once again. For one reason - because they were born Jewish.”
He pressed on: “What happened in Israel on October 7 and what happened here in Auschwitz have one common thread - an age old hatred of Jews.”
President of the World Jewish Congress Ronald Lauder makes an address on behalf of the major donors of the Memorial and Museum Auschwitz-Birkenau AFP via Getty ImagesLatest updatesOlder updates