Israel Matzav

The British royal boycott of Israel and the Princess who saved Jews from the Nazis

In an earlier post, I reported that William and Kate are to honeymoon in Jordan and wondered - kind of tongue in cheek - why they would not stay in Israel instead. As it turns out, the Royal family, under the direction of the British foreign office, is still boycotting Israel, and apparently has been since 1948. The only royal to visit here was the Duke of Edinburgh - Prince Phillip, husband of Queen Elizabeth - who came here to visit the grave of his mother Princess Alice in 1994. That would be William's great grandmother. And as it turns out Princess Alice saved Jews from the Nazis in Greece during World War II.

After the princess died in 1969, her remains lay at first in St George's Chapel, Windsor. But her final wish had been to be buried at the White Russian convent on the Mount of Olives, near her Aunt Elizabeth, cousin of the last Tsar of imperial Russia. Grand Duchess Elizabeth was murdered by the Bolsheviks and declared a Russian Orthodox saint.

The Jerusalem burial was finally arranged after an extraordinary diplomatic and religious dance, involving a deal between the Russian and Greek orthodox churches to share the ceremonies, and agreement that Israel handle security.

At the time, the Palestinian intifada was at its height, and the Mount of Olives was a stronghold of militancy. The princess's remains were transported by a British Airways jet from London, and, under the eyes of Israeli agents, were carried into the church by Jewish pallbearers wearing skullcaps.

...

The second factor that has brought about the visit relates to Princess Alice herself: new revelations of her past self-sacrifice have led Israel to honour her as a 'righteous gentile' - one of 12,000 non-Jews judged to have displayed bravery in helping to save Jewish lives during the Holocaust.

In 1943 Princess Alice, estranged from her husband, Prince Andrew of Greece, was living alone in Nazi-occupied Athens, working with the poor. She opened her house to three Jewish friends and protected them for a year. Her bravery, however, did not come to light until recently.

Princess Alice courted no publicity. 'It was just a Christian thing to do,' says Mother Anna, Abbess of St Mary Magdalene Convent. It was only when a relative of the Jews she protected, suggested that a street in Jerusalem be named after Princess Alice, that the story of her bravery emerged.

Read the whole thing.

If William and Kate decide they want to come here to visit his great grandmother's grave, I'd be happy to escort them. I suspect that William's mother would have approved.

Labels: Duke of Edinburgh, Kate Middleton, Prince William, Princess Alice

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 2:36 AM