Prince William tours religious sites in Jerusalem’s old City. (photo credit: TALI GILBERG/MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/KENSINGTON PALACE)
X ![]()
Dear Reader,
As you can imagine, more people are reading The Jerusalem Post than ever before. Nevertheless, traditional business models are no longer sustainable and high-quality publications, like ours, are being forced to look for new ways to keep going. Unlike many other news organizations, we have not put up a paywall. We want to keep our journalism open and accessible and be able to keep providing you with news and analyses from the frontlines of Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish World.
As one of our loyal readers, we ask you to be our partner.
For $5 a month you will receive access to the following:
- A user uxperience almost completely free of ads
- Access to our Premium Section and our monthly magazine to learn Hebrew, Ivrit
- Content from the award-winning Jerusalem Repor
- A brand new ePaper featuring the daily newspaper as it appears in print in Israel
Help us grow and continue telling Israel’s story to the world.
Thank you,
Ronit Hasin-Hochman, CEO, Jerusalem Post Group
Yaakov Katz, Editor-in-Chief
UPGRADE YOUR JPOST EXPERIENCE FOR 5$ PER MONTH Don’t show it again
Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge, concluded his royal visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories on Thursday morning with an emotional visit to Jerusalem, the City of Gold.
He started his Jerusalem morning with a visit to the Mount of Olives, where he was briefed on the history of the city before visiting the Church of St. Mary Magdalene and the tomb of his great-grandmother Princess Alice of Battenberg, before heading on to significant religious sites in Jerusalem’s Old City.
The Duke of Cambridge visited the Western Wall, the Temple Mount and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher during the final leg of his tour.
Annie Kara from California waits to catch a lumps of Prince William pic.twitter.com/NsCpk1xhIt
— Tovah Lazaroff (@tovahlazaroff) June 28, 2018
Terry Charalambous of Australia was surprised but excited to learn Prince William is about to pass by pic.twitter.com/Qig23fVG3C
— Tovah Lazaroff (@tovahlazaroff) June 28, 2018
William followed in the footsteps of his father, Prince Charles, and grandfather, Prince Philip, who have visited the grave site of Princess Alice near the Garden of Gethsemane.
Alice, who was Queen Elizabeth’s mother-in-law, is buried in a crypt in the Russian Orthodox Church of Mary Magdalene on the Mount of Olives outside Jerusalem’s walled Old City.
A devout Christian, she died in London in 1969 and had asked to be buried in Jerusalem, next to her aunt, who like Alice had become a nun and founded a convent.
In 1993, the princess was named as one of the “righteous among the nations,” the highest honor Israel’s Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial bestows on non-Jews, for hiding three members of the Cohen family in her palace in Athens during World War Two.
William shook hands with clerics and then entered Islam’s Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa mosque.
They are on a site revered by Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and by Jews as the Temple Mount, where Biblical temples once stood.
Minutes later, accompanied by Jewish rabbis, William approached the Western Wall, at the foot of the sacred hilltop, through a passage formed by police barricades that held back a crowd of onlookers.
Wearing a kippa and following a Jewish tradition of offering a written prayer at the wall, he placed a note between its stones, rested the palm of one hand against them and leaned forward in silent reflection.
Separately, he wrote in the Western Wall’s official guest book: “May the God of peace bless this region and all the world with peace.”
William then visited the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, another popular stop for pilgrims and where many Christians believe Jesus was crucified and buried.
William, the first member of the Royal Family making a formal visit to Israel, then departed from Tel Aviv’s Ben-Gurion International Airport early Thursday afternoon on a Royal Air Force plane back to the United Kingdom.
He arrived in Israel on Monday evening and, during his time in the country, stayed at Jerusalem’s King David Hotel.
He visited some of the country’s more solemn sites including Yad Vashem and saw some of its most upbeat and light sides, such as the Tel Aviv beachfront and a meeting with Eurovision winner Netta Barzilai at the city’s Rothschild Boulevard.
Prince William also held meetings with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Reuven Rivlin and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
Speaking at a reception in the garden of the British ambassador’s residence in Ramat Gan on Tuesday, William praised the strong relationship between the two countries, saying “the ties between the United Kingdom and Israel have never been stronger.”
While celebrating Israel’s achievements and cooperation between the countries in economy, science and security, the prince voiced on numerous occasions during his visit Britain’s commitment to creating a peaceful future in the Middle East.
“I know I share a desire with all of you, and with your neighbors, for a just and lasting peace,” he told the Ramat Gan reception. “The United Kingdom stands with you, as we work together for a peaceful and prosperous future.”
William echoed these sentiments during his meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas at the Mukata presidential compound in Ramallah on Wednesday.
Reuters contributed to this report.
Comments are closed.