Royals take sombre war tour

BRITAIN’S Prince William has taken his young family to Warsaw to begin a fourday tour of Poland and Germany that will take in World War II memorials and meetings with locals.

The royal couple travelled with their children — Prince George, who turns four this month, and his two-year-old sister, Charlotte.

On Monday after meeting the Polish president and first lady, William, second in line to the throne, and Kate, visited the Warsaw Uprising museum which commemorates the 1944 battle against Nazi occupiers in which tens of thousands died and the city was razed to the ground.

Later they met young entrepreneurs, before attending a party organised by the British embassy to celebrate the Queen’s 91st birthday, where William praised the strong ties between the two countries. Around 900,000 Poles live in Britain and Poland hosts British troops as part of NATO forces.

“In our warm relationships we are NATO partners and for the first time since the Second World War our soldiers station on your soil,” William said during the party in Royal Lazienki park in Warsaw.

William began and finished his speech in Polish, the second most spoken language in Britain. Poland joined the European Union in 2004 and had been one of Britain’s closest allies in calling for reform of the bloc before Britons voted to leave the EU in a 2016 referendum.

Last night the royals were to tour a former concentration camp in Stutthof, the first built by Nazi Germany outside its borders after the start of World War II. More than 85,000 people died there.