At a poignant ceremony held to mark Holocaust Remembrance Day, Prince William told the remarkable story of his great-grandmother who risked death to protect a Jewish family
Today, the Prince and Princess of Wales marked the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz at a poignant ceremony in London, and Prince William made sure to pay tribute to a very special member of the Royal Family. In a moving speech, the future King spoke with admiration of those “who risked their own lives to help and save others”, including his own great-grandmother, Princess Alice of Battenberg.
Princess Alice, whose remarkable life was touched upon in the hit Netflix drama The Crown, had been living in the Athens palace of her brother-in-law, Prince George of Greece, when World War II broke out. She had returned to Greece following a period of exile. By 1941, Greece was occupied by Axis forces, and by 1942, Athens fell completely under the control of the Nazi regime following the death of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. It was at this point that the horrific attack on Jews in Greece intensified.
Princess Alice, the mother of Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, saw first-hand the horrors that unfolded and was moved to action after hearing the story of a Jewish mother desperate to protect her five children.
Princess Alice was the mother of Prince Philip (
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TV Grab)
As per Holocaust Centre North, Haimaki Cohen was a Greek member of Parliament and well-known to the Royal Family. Throughout the political turmoil of the 1910s, Haimaki continuously showed his support for Princess Alice’s father-in-law, King George I of Greece.
And when Haimaki sadly passed away, Princess Alice made it her mission to help his widow, Rachel Cohen, and their children, sheltering them in her own home.
According to The World Holocaust Remembrance Centre, the four sons of the family had wanted to cross over into Egypt, where they would join the exiled Greek Government in Cairo. However, the journey would have been too dangerous for Rachel and her daughter, Tilde.
The princess put her own life at risk by sheltering Rachel and Tilde behind palace walls (
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Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images)
Putting her own life at risk, Princess Alice sheltered Rachel and Tilde at the palace, where they were joined shortly afterwards by one of the sons who had been forced to return to Athens.
The family remained hidden behind the palace walls until Greece was finally liberated. During that time, German officers were suspicious about what the princess was up to, and she was even subjected to an interview by members of the Gestapo.
Staying strong, however, Princess Alice used her deafness as a weapon, pretending she couldn’t understand her interrogators’ questions until they finally let her be.
Alice was even interviewed by members of the Gestapo – but managed to trick them (
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PA Archive/PA Images)
Prince Philip remembered his mother as ‘a person with deep religious faith’ ( Thanks to Princess Alice’s bravery, the Cohen family survived the horrors of the Holocaust, during which some 60,000 Greek Jews were slaughtered.
Prince William today said: “On this, the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, we also recall those who risked their own lives to help and save others. They risked death, torture and persecution to defy the aggressors. I was recently reminded of my great-grandmother, Princess Alice of Battenberg, who lived in Athens during the Second World War.
“This is an extract from the book Heroes of the Holocaust: ‘In the early days of German occupation, conditions deteriorated rapidly as food ran out when an estimated 300,000 people died.
William and Kate today met with Holocaust survivors (
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Arthur Edwards The Sun)
“Conditions were particularly severe in Athens and its port, Piraeus. Alice worked tirelessly for the Red Cross, helping to organise soup kitchens, opening shelters for orphaned children, and setting up a nursing system for poor areas of the city.
“It was at this time that Princess Alice gave refuge to a Jewish widow, Rachel Cohen, and two of her five children to save them from deportation to the death camps.”
He continued: “This was an extremely risky undertaking in the close-packed streets of Athens where there was always the danger of spies and gossip. On 15 October 1943, Rachel Cohen and Tilde moved into Alice’s home. The staff were told that Mrs Cohen was the former governess to her children.
“Michel, the youngest of the four brothers, joined them about a month later. There were great risks, not least the position of the house – the front door faced the residence of the local Archbishop, which always had a German guard on duty outside.
The future king paid tribute to those ‘who risked their own lives to help and save others’ (
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Getty Images)
“‘She was sometimes interviewed by the Gestapo and used her deafness to an advantage, pretending not to understand their questions or what they were talking about.
“‘It worked, and they soon gave up. Thanks to her, the entire Cohen family survived the war.’ It has been a great honour for Catherine and I to join you all today. Thank you.”
After the war, Princess Alice continued with her life of good work. In January 1949, she founded a nursing order of Greek Orthodox nuns – the Christian Sisterhood of Martha and Mary. Then, in 1967, following the colonels’ coup d’etat in Greece, the princess-turned-nun moved to Buckingham Palace to be close to her son, Prince Philip in her final years. She passed away in London two years later at the age of 84.
In 1993, Yad Vashem, Israel’s official memorial to Holocaust victims, bestowed upon the late royal the title of Righteous Among the Nations on Princess Alice. Once year later, Prince Philip travelled to the remembrance centre, where he planted a tree in honour of his mother.
Reflecting on his mother’s legacy, Philip told ceremony attendees: “I suspect that it never occurred to her that her action was in any way special. She was a person with deep religious faith, and she would have considered it a totally human action against fellow human beings in distress.”
In 2010, Princess Alice was also awarded the posthumous title of British Hero of the Holocaust.
