The Prince of Wales has extended his patronage of World Jewish Relief for a further term from April 2020.

Since becoming a WJR patron in 2015, the prince has taken an active interest in its work. He has been especially supportive of its home repairs programme, facilitating life-changing improvements to the dilapidated homes of elderly Jewish people across Eastern Europe.

Two years ago, he encouraged the charity to launch a campaign to fix 3,500 homes, since when 1,034 have been repaired.

The charity's relationship with the prince goes back to 2002 when he visited Krakow and met older members of the Jewish community. Six years later, he returned to the city with the Duchess of Cornwall to open the Jewish Community Centre, which was funded by World Jewish Relief supporters.

It has gone from strength to strength, hosting 160,000 visitors last year and also supports Krakow’s Holocaust survivors and the first Jewish kindergarten opened in the city since before the war.

The prince was previously patron of the Wohl Livelihood Development Programme in Ukraine.

At a reception he hosted to celebrate the Jewish community at Buckingham Palace last year, he said he had agreed "without a moment’s hesitation to become patron of World Jewish Relief".

WJR chair Dan Rosenfield expressed delight that the prince had decided to extend his patronage. "We deeply appreciate his concerns about the ongoing needs of vulnerable Jewish communities throughout Eastern Europe. His vision, inspiration and encouragement has helped World Jewish Relief have a dramatic impact on the lives of Jews in Krakow, Poland and amongst all generations in Ukraine. His ongoing support will enable us to achieve even more.”