King Charles awards MBE to Holocaust survivor Lily Ebert during emotional moment at Windsor
By Natalie Oliveri|
?K?ing Charles III has reunited with a survivor of the Holocaust who told the monarch "how special" it was to be there after the "hell" of Auschwitz.
Lily ?Ebert, 99, has devoted her life to educating people about the Holocaust and was officially recognised by King Charles at Windsor Castle on Tuesday.
She is one of the ?UK's last living Auschwitz survivors? and says she is "still alive" for a reason.
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"I survived and there must have been a reason," Lily said in a video shared by the Royal Family's social media accounts.
"I promised myself, as long as God lets me stay alive, I will teach the world we are all humans and we all should behave like human beings."
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She was awarded an MBE (Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) during the investiture ceremony at Windsor.
Ebert said to the King as he gripped her hands: ?"I was in the hell, Auschwitz. How special it is to be here today, with The King, in the Palace".
Later, speaking of meeting the monarch, she said: "How can I explain the unexplainable? It is a very special honour".
Ebert was accompanied by four generations of her family including great-grandson Dov Forman who spoke to the Jewish Chronicle about their moment with King Charles.
"I walked up with Lily. We spoke to him for quite a few minutes. Usually, it's just a very short conversation but I shared a few words with him," Forman said.
"I said, this is the first time I've met you since you've been King, as we met before จC which he knows.
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"Could I please say the Jewish blessing? And he was more than happy, he kind of bowed his head, but not entirely, and listened as I said the Bracha. He turned around and said 'I've heard that tradition a few times'. It was really special."
He added: "Just seeing my great grandmother speaking today, with tears running down her face saying how she never thought she'd ever make it, was really, really special and that MBE means so much to her."
Forman helped his great-grandmother share her message to millions via a TikTok account set up a couple of years ago, dedicated to answering questions about the Holocaust where she speaks to young people about the "importance of tolerance and love"?.
Ebert was a teenager when she deported from her home in Hungary to Auschwitz, a camp run by the Nazis.
She was liberated two years later while on a death march to a munitions factory, having been forced to walk for days without shoes, food or water.
Forman is the co-author of her life story, Lily's Promise, which quickly become a best-seller after its release in 2022.
In 2020, Forman helped to find the children of one of Ebert's liberators after identifying him from words of hope written on a banknote.
Their story went viral, part of Forman's aim to educate the world about the Holocaust while his great-grandmother is still alive.
King Charles has previously met Ebert ?through his work as Patron of the National Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, attending many events in commemoration of the event.
In 2020, Charles travelled to Israel to visit the grave of his paternal grandmother, Princess Alice.
She was honoured by Jewish people for her humanitarian efforts in Nazi-occupied Athens during World War Two.
Alice died in 1969, aged 84, and was buried at the Church of Mary Magdalene in Jerusalem.?
Charles has previously said he had "long drawn inspiration from the selfless actions of my dear grandmother".?
