Time to reflect: William moved

AT YAD Vashem, emotionally overloaded by the tragedy of the Holocaust, Prince William became the pupil.

The Duke of Cambridge said the visit on Tuesday was a “profoundly moving experience”.

This was evident as he toured the museum, especially when he saw an exhibit of shoes taken from Jews, and a hair braid which is all that remains of one victim.

“It’s terrifying,” he said. “I’m trying to comprehend the scale.”

His guides and survivors whom he met told the JC afterwards that he was full of questions and keen to learn.

“His hosts were rushing him along, because he was getting behind schedule by asking so many questions,” revealed Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, who accompanied William through the museum.

“When he got into his car he said, ‘I wish I could have spent the whole day here,’ and he really meant that.”

William’s guide, Avner Shalev, chairman of Yad Vashem, said he was “eager to study and learn,” grappling with how he would deal as a father with

I wish I could have spent the whole day here’

decisions that Jews had to make during the Shoah, and focused on one question in particular.

“He said: ‘How come, how come? How come people hate so deeply?’”

The Yad Vashem visit reached an emotional peak during a ceremony in the Hall of Remembrance, where the Duke rekindled the “eternal flame,” laid a wreath, listened to a choir singing in Hebrew, and heard Rabbi Mirvis recite a memorial prayer.

Later in the day, William promised to perpetuate the memory of the Holocaust. He said: “I am well aware that the responsibility falls now to my