The King and Queen met Holocaust survivors and lit candles of remembrance to mark the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau in 1945.
Charles viewed portraits of seven Holocaust survivors including one of Helen Aronson, 98, who was one of only around 750 people to be liberated from the Lodz Ghetto in Poland, out of 250,000 people sent there.
Ms Aronson told Charles her portrait, by Paul Benney and commissioned by the King when he was the Prince of Wales, was “wonderful”.
The 98-year-old was just 12 when the German army arrived at her home.
Her mother and brother survived with her, but her father was murdered at the Chelmno extermination camp in Poland.
Lu Lawrence, the daughter of survivor Zigi Shipper, said she wished her father, who died in 2023, could be at the reception to see his portrait on Holocaust Memorial Day on Tuesday.
“They are in spirit,” Charles said of the survivors who have died.
Mr Shipper, who was 93 when he died, survived the Lodz ghetto, the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp, the Stutthof concentration camp, and a death march, where he was helped by Manfred Goldberg, who was also honoured in a portrait at Buckingham Palace.
Ms Lawrence and her sister Michelle Richman said the painting was “magnificent” and the likeness was amazing.
Charles also met Mr Shipper’s great-grandson, two-year-old Zigi Harrod, who is named after him.
He showed the King his toy monkey called Fergus and said “hello back” to Charles.
The King said centenarian Anita Lasker-Wallfisch was “wonderful” to come to the reception and see her portrait.
The 100-year-old played the cello in the orchestra at Auschwitz and survived for nearly a year. With the advance of the Russian army, she was moved westwards to Bergen-Belsen.
“It goes back a long way since I first met you, it must be 20 years,” Charles told Ms Lasker-Wallfisch, who bonded with him over the fact they played the same instrument.
Ms Lasker-Wallfisch’s daughter told the King his visit to her London home for 100th birthday last summer was the highlight of the time the family spent celebrating.
“It was so intimate and memorable,” Maya Lasker-Wallfisch told Charles.
The King and Queen were handed taper candles by survivor Rachel Levy to light candles from the Holocaust Memorial Trust, as an act of remembrance and a symbol of hope for the future.
Ms Levy, who also is also honoured in one of the portraits, survived Auschwitz-Birkenau and Bergen-Belsen. After the war, she moved to Northern Ireland, before eventually rebuilding her life in London.
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