Kate Middleton has made the “last-minute” decision to join Prince William for a ceremony commemorating Holocaust Memorial Day on January 27. Per People, Prince William had been scheduled to attend the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, however, Kate was a late and unexpected addition to the guest list.
This is Kate’s first official royal engagement since announcing her remission from cancer on January 14 while visiting the Royal Marsden Hospital, where she had also been a patient.
Both Kate and William also attended the 75th anniversary of the liberation Auschwitz-Birkenau in January 2020, so their visit is in 2025 is not at all surprising. However, the timing—and especially Kate’s insistence on attending, even though she was not initially scheduled to—seems especially poignant given the events of the past week. On January 16, Elon Musk appeared to give the Nazi salute while on stage following the 2025 inauguration of President Donald Trump. Musk, who has a role in the Trump administration as the co-leader of the Department of Government Efficiency (a rebranding of the United States Digital Service), has not yet confirmed or denied the intention of the gesture, however many people have come forward condemning it anyway.
Amy Spitalnick, the leader of the US Jewish civil rights organization Jewish Council for Public Affairs, warned that Musk’s actions would lead to surge in “violent extremism” against Jewish people. To Spitalnick, “there was nothing ambiguous” about his salute. Musk seemingly addressed criticisms by making several Nazi puns on X.
Across the pond, Musk is reportedly unpopular, especially after accusations that he has been meddling in UK politics. The British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, when asked about a few of Musk’s tweets, including one in which he called on America to “liberate the people of Britain from their tyrannical government,” condemned “those that are spreading lies and misinformation as far and as wide as possible.”
Throughout her time as a member of the royal family, Kate Middleton has often participated in events honoring the victims of the Holocaust, most recently through a collaboration between the Holocaust Memorial Trust, Jewish News, and the Royal Photographic Society in 2020. For the event, Middleton photographed two Holocaust survivors and their grandchildren.
“The harrowing atrocities of the Holocaust, which were caused by the most unthinkable evil, will forever lay heavy in our hearts,” said Kate in a statement at the time. “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.”
