Her Majesty the Queen has pledged a renewed commitment to “never forget” the atrocities of the Holocaust ahead of the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.

Queen Camilla spoke as she attended the annual lunch of the Anne Frank Trust, a youth education charity of which she became the first royal patron last year and which empowers 9 to 15-year-olds to challenge all forms of prejudice through educational programmes, events and workshops.

The lunch gathered 700 attendees in central London, including Sir Stephen Fry, who was guest speaker, and Rob Rinder MBE and was hosted by the BBC’s Emma Barnett, raising over £600,000 in the process.

Her Majesty was joined by guests including Sir Stephen Fry, Rob Rinder MBE and the BBC's Emma Barnett

In a speech, Her Majesty asked guests for a renewed “commitment to two simple but powerful words, ‘Never Forget’”.

Quoting Anne Frank’s own words that one day she will make her “voice heard” and “work for mankind”, the Queen said that the young Shoah victim’s famous diary “has become the enduring embodiment of that promise.”

She went on: “We can only guess at what she would have made of her legacy. Yet her story demonstrates that even the quietest, loneliest voice in the wilderness can change the world. That is the true power of words.”

The Trust provides Holocaust and anti-prejudice education for schoolchildren across the country (Image: Ian Jones)

Also reflecting on the “inspiring” words and message of survivor Marian Turski, who warned against complacency in the face of discrimination against minorities, the Queen continued: “Today, more than ever, with the levels of antisemitism at their highest in a generation, and a disturbing rise in Islamophobia and other sorts of racism and prejudice, we must heed this warning.

“The deadly seeds of the Holocaust were sown at first in small acts of exclusion, of aggression and of discrimination towards those who had previously been neighbours and friends.

“Over a terrifyingly short period of time, those seeds took root through the complacency of which we can all be guilty: of turning away from injustice, of ignoring that which we know to be wrong, of thinking that someone else will do what’s needed, and of remaining silent.

“Let us unite in our commitment to take action, to speak up and to ensure that the words ‘never forget’ are a guiding light that charts a path towards a better, brighter, and more tolerant future for us all.”

The Queen later met with Holocaust survivor Mala Tribich MBE, who was in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp at the same time as Anne Frank, as well as John Wood, whose father Lieutenant Colonel Leonard Berney was one of the British soldiers who liberated the camp in April 1945, just weeks after the teen’s death from typhus

Her Majesty also spoke with survivor Eva Clarke BEM, who was born in Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria, who will turn 80 this April.

Clarke told the JC afterwards that it was “heart-warming” to meet the Queen and to see Holocaust education and remembrance efforts continuing to be still so strongly endorsed by the royals.

The Queen met a number of Holocaust survivors at the event

During the reception, which was hosted by the barrister and broadcaster Rob Rinder, Her Majesty, along with the survivors and Sir Stephen Fry, watched a spoken word performance and presentation from pupils belonging to Anne Frank Trust partner schools in Barnsley, Birmingham, Leeds and London.

The pupils spoke about their experience of being trained by the Trust as anti-prejudice ambassadors. Last year the charity’s programmes – which include workshops on antisemitism, racism and anti-refugee prejudice – reached over 126,000 pupils in 758 schools across Britain.

Her Majesty took part in a remembrance candle lighting ceremony alongside Auschwitz survivor Arek Hirsch MBE and Srebrenica genocide survivor Aida Haughton MBE.

They were also two witnesses of more recent prejudice – Aaron Zimmer, who was caught up in the violence in Amsterdam in October last year, and Chanaka Balasuriya, whose Southport shop was looted by anti-immigrant rioters in August.

Sir Stephen emphasised the importance of the Trust's work amid a 'resurgence of antisemitism, racism, xenophobia and intolerance around the world'

Keynote speaker Sir Stephen Fry, who was knighted in the 2025 New Year Honours list, charmed guests as he recounted meeting with survivor Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, a member of the Women’s Orchestra of Auschwitz, in hospital last week, describing her as “one of the most remarkable” people he’s ever met.

He later said: “It is always an honour and a privilege to be involved with Holocaust Memorial Day. These days it is tinged with a new urgency and importance.

"An almost unthinkable resurgence of antisemitism, racism, xenophobia and intolerance around the world spurs us to use this occasion and the name of Ann Frank, known internationally as a symbol of all that is best in our species, to remind ourselves of what depths of barbarity and heights of goodness humans can reach.”