Duke and Duchess of Cambridge “very, very moved” by visit to former concentration camp

He said: “They were very, very moved, and were asking good questions. I told them I lost my father. And William said ‘I know what it means to lose a parent’.

“They were a lovely couple and it felt so informal. We also just spoke a bit about what is going on in the world. It was like speaking to people you had known all your life.

“We just thanked them for being here. We said ‘You have no idea what it means to both of us you’re here’.”

Mr Shipper said the visit of the Duke and Duchess attracted worldwide attention to Stutthof and to the issue of Holocaust commemoration, saying it meant photographs of the event would be “in every newspaper”.

It was the first time Mr Shipper and Mr Goldberg had returned to Stutthof since being liberated by Allied troops in May 1945. They first met as 14-year-olds at Stolp, a Stutthof satellite camp.

Both men settled in north London after the war, and regularly visit schools across the UK to share their testimony.

Mr Shipper said: “It’s so important we keep talking about this. There are so few (survivors) left. So many things happened and there is still so much to tell.”