It has been suggested that nearly a third of Britons either met or saw Queen Elizabeth II at events during her reign. But Holocaust survivor Manfred Goldberg has met three generations of royals — the Queen, King Charles and Prince William.

Mr Goldberg, 92, was born in central Germany in 1930 to an Orthodox family. His father managed to flee before the war but he, his mother and younger brother were unable to join him. In December 1941, they were deported to the Riga Ghetto.

After a stint in a labour camp, he was moved to Stutthof concentration camp near Gdansk in Poland in August 1944. He survived a death march before his liberation at Neustadt in Germany in May 1945. His younger brother was murdered by the Nazis. Post-war, he and his mother joined his father in Britain.

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Manfred with the Duchess of Cornwall (Getty Images)

In the 1980s, Mr Goldberg was stunned to receive an invitation from the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh to join other survivors at a tea at St James’s Palace, where he “had the honour of shaking the Queen’s hand.

“She was a most charming lady who seemed to have genuine pleasure in meeting us and listening to us.”

Seven years ago, Mr Goldberg received an invitation from King Charles to a reception for 150 survivors at St James’s Palace.

“We sat in a large hall being served a kosher afternoon tea,” he recalled. “[Charles] did something remarkable. He sat himself down at the table right next to the door where he entered the hall and he shook each one by their hand.

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Manfred Goldberg as a boy (Photo via Holocaust Educational Trust)

“It was amazing. I had become a member of the Holocaust Survivors’ Centre, organised by Jewish Care. I was fortunate to have been selected and I was allowed to bring my wife along.”

Meeting both the Queen and the future King “reinforced the feeling I had developed soon after I came to this country.

“I felt the British people were wonderful, not ostentatious, quietly sympathetic and extremely tolerant. I’ve really felt and still do feel gratitude for having been permitted to live my life in complete freedom in this country.”

In 2017, Mr Goldberg received another royal invitation, asking if he would accompany the (now) Prince and Princess of Wales on a visit to the Stutthof site, along with his friend Zigi Shipper, whom he had met in the camp when they were 14-year-olds.

“We were granted almost one hour of conversation — totally private. No one else was allowed to be around so they could ask whatever questions they wanted. It was an eye-opener for them. They had never witnessed anything like this.”

He met the couple again at a commemorative ceremony on Holocaust Memorial Day 2020.

“I was told that at the end of the evening, instead of just going home, I would be guided by an attendant into a room at the back of the hall — there would be about 30 of us.

"Prince William and Princess Kate came into that room and did the rounds, chatting with each of us in turn.” The Princess remembered his name.

There was a further conversation with Kate, this time via Zoom, during the pandemic in 2021.

“It was on her initiative and we spent about 45 minutes or so conversing.”
Footage from that event shows the enjoyment of both parties, having originally met in a place where Mr Goldberg and Mr Shipper had experienced the very worst in humanity.

Now living in North-West London, Mr Goldberg considered himself fortunate to have met three generations of royals.

And he was “walking on air” earlier this year after receiving a phone call from King Charles’ team, having been selected as one of seven survivors to have portraits commissioned for display in the Queen’s Gallery in Buckingham Palace as a memorial to Shoah victims.

“Fortunately, I was sitting down.”

He spoke at length to the King at the unveiling —“quite an unforgettable experience. That’s an understatement. I just cannot find the right words.”

And in May, he attended a garden party, hosted by Prince William and Princess Kate, in honour of his receiving the British Empire Medal.

“We had a message that Princess Kate had expressed a wish to greet me personally and she did so very graciously. When she reached me, before the attendant could open his mouth, she said: ‘Hello, Manfred. Lovely to see you again.’

“I felt beyond honoured. I can promise you that when I arrived in this country in 1946 as a traumatised Holocaust survivor, 16-years-old at the time, the thought of making contact, let alone shaking hands or being addressed by my first name by royalty, did not cross my mind. It really was something quite extraordinary.”

The death of the Queen had been “a real shock” to him. “I was full of admiration for her because she was perfection personified. She gave up her personal life and devoted herself to carrying out the duties of the Sovereign. I, for one, appreciated that.”

And his meetings with royalty had a common thread. “All three generations appear to be of the same mind that Jewish people are an asset to the country. I think that we are fortunate in that sense.”