Duchess Kate and Prince William attend moving Holocaust Memorial Day service in London

January 27, 2020

<a href=/tags/0/prince-william><strong>Prince William</a></strong> and <strong><a href=/tags/0/kate-middleton>Duchess Kate</a></strong> stepped out to a moving service to mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau on Jan. 27, held in connection with Holocaust Memorial Day.
<p>The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's outing comes a day after Kensington Palace released two new moving photos of two Holocaust survivors taken by Kate. The event was intended to memorialize those lost in the Holocaust, but also recognize those lost in subsequent genocides such as those in Darfur, Cambodia, Rwanda and more.
<p>The duke, who is a patron of the Holocaust Memorial Fund, is set to give a reading during the service, and the couple were joined by UK faith, civic and political leaders.
<p><strong>Scroll through the gallery (or click through if you're on desktop) to see some of the photos from the emotional event.</strong>
<p>Photo: © Chris Jackson/Getty Images

Prince William and Duchess Kate stepped out to a moving service to mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau on Jan. 27, held in connection with Holocaust Memorial Day.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's outing comes a day after Kensington Palace released two new moving photos of two Holocaust survivors taken by Kate. The event was intended to memorialize those lost in the Holocaust, but also recognize those lost in subsequent genocides such as those in Darfur, Cambodia, Rwanda and more.

The duke, who is a patron of the Holocaust Memorial Fund, is set to give a reading during the service, and the couple were joined by UK faith, civic and political leaders.

Scroll through the gallery (or click through if you're on desktop) to see some of the photos from the emotional event.

Photo: © Chris Jackson/Getty Images

The couple greeted the organizers, <strong>Olivia Marks-Woldman</strong>, the CEO of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, and Sir <strong>Ben Helfgott</strong>, its honorary president. Ben is also a Holocaust survivor. They were thrilled to see the Cambridges at the important event. We're sure Kate's moving experience and things she learned from <Strong>Yvonne Bernstein</strong> and <strong>Steven Frank</strong>, the two survivors she photographed, were right at the front of her mind.
<p>Photo: © Chris Jackson/Getty Images

William gave a moving speech at the event.
<p>Photo: © Chris Jackson/Getty Images

UK Prime Minister <strong>Boris Johnson</strong> also gave a speech. Earlier on Jan. 27, he published an editorial in <a href=https://jewishnews.timesofisrael.com/opinion-boris-johnson-the-darkest-of-nights-must-never-again-fall/><i>The Jewish News</a></i> saying he supported the creation of a National Holocaust Memorial and Education Centre near the country's parliament.
<p>"Even though the Shoah was a crime so unprecedented it required the creation of a new word - genocide - simply to describe it, its perpetrators wished for it to be left unnoticed by the history books," he wrote.
<p>Boris also said he rejected any attempts to minimize what went on during the Holocaust.
<p>"[Anti-Semites] downplay the scale of the killing, draw false equivalence with the contemporary world, even outright deny that what happened, happened," he continued. "We cannot let them gain a foothold. We owe those incredible survivors nothing less."
<p>Photo: © Chris Jackson/Getty Images

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson also gave a speech. Earlier on Jan. 27, he published an editorial in The Jewish News saying he supported the creation of a National Holocaust Memorial and Education Centre near the country's parliament.

"Even though the Shoah was a crime so unprecedented it required the creation of a new word - genocide - simply to describe it, its perpetrators wished for it to be left unnoticed by the history books," he wrote.

Boris also said he rejected any attempts to minimize what went on during the Holocaust.

"[Anti-Semites] downplay the scale of the killing, draw false equivalence with the contemporary world, even outright deny that what happened, happened," he continued. "We cannot let them gain a foothold. We owe those incredible survivors nothing less."

<strong>Mala Tribich</strong> MBE, a survivor of Bergen-Belsen, and <strong>Ian Forsyth</strong> MBE, a decorated WWII veteran who helped liberate that camp, also gave speeches.
<p>Photo: © Chris Jackson/Getty Images

William and Kate were visibly moved by what they heard.
<p>Photo: © Chris Jackson/Getty Images

The Duke of Cambridge then helped light candles.
<p>Photo: © Chris Jackson/Getty Images

The duchess did, too.
<p>Photo: © Chris Jackson/Getty Images

Kate spoke with Mala after the service.
<p>Photo: © Chris Jackson/Getty Images

She also shared a laugh with Yvonne, one of the survivors whose portraits she took.
<p>Photo: © Chris Jackson/Getty Images

Kate also spoke with other genocide survivors after the service. It's clear the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were quite emotionally moved by what they heard there, and we know they will continue to apply what they learned to their important work, especially on mental health.
<p>Photo: © Chris Jackson/Getty Images