King Charles and Camilla light candles to remember horrors of the Holocaust

King Charles and Queen Consort Camilla met two genocide survivors at Buckingham Palace as they marked Holocaust Memorial Day.

The royal couple were solemn as they spoke with Dr Martin Stern and Amouna Adam, before lighting candles in a powerful gesture of remembrance of the victims of genocide.

Afterwards, the King said: "I hope this will be one way of trying to remember all those poor people who had to suffer such horrors for so many years - and still do."

King Charles, 74, and the Queen Consort, 75, were pictured talking with Holocaust survivor Dr Martin Stern and a survivor of the Darfur genocide Amouna Adam during the event.  

King Charles III and the Queen Consort lit a candle at Buckingham Palace to mark Holocaust Memorial Day© Victoria Jones/PA Wire

 

King Charles III and the Queen Consort talked to Amouna Adam, a survivor of the Darfur genocide, and Holocaust survivor Dr Martin Stern© Victoria Jones/PA Wire

Dr Stern, who was born to a Jewish father and non-Jewish mother, said they spoke about the importance of education about the Holocaust and other genocides.

He said: "The King was very insistent on inquiring about other genocides as well, and so was the Queen Consort."

The Holocaust survivor, who was sent to the Westerbork transit camp and Theresienstadt ghetto in Nazi-occupied Netherlands after being taken away by officers at the age of five, said the lighting of the candle was "immensely important".

Dr Stern added: "The perpetrators would like that we would just forget about it, move on to other things so they get on quietly with doing more of their horrific crimes.  

King Charles III and the Queen Consort made the powerful candle lighting gesture in remembrance of victims of genocide© Victoria Jones/PA Wire

"Lighting a candle publicly is a marker that makes it hard for tyrants and state criminals to perpetuate their mass crimes quietly."