Prince William places note, prays at Western Wall during Jerusalem Old City visit

JTA
Published June 28, 2018

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Britain’s Prince William placed a note between the stones of the Western Wall and spent several moments there in prayer as part of a visit to the Old City of Jerusalem.

The prince wore a blue kippa during his visit to the site on Thursday morning, the last day of his three-day visit to Israel. “May the God of peace bless this region and all the world with peace,” he wrote in the Western Wall guestbook at the end of his visit, which was livestreamed on the Western Wall’s official Facebook page. He was accompanied on the visit by British Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis.

 

The prince also visited the Temple Mount and was permitted to enter the Dome of the Rock shrine, which is usually not permitted for non-Muslims. He also visited the Al-Aksa mosque at the site.

He also received an overview of the area at a site overlooking the Mount of Olives and visited the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

Earlier on Thursday, the prince paid his respects at the grave of his great-grandmother Princess Alice of Battenberg, who rescued a Jewish family during the Holocaust, and was buried in Jerusalem at her request.

News reports on Wednesday night said that Prime William declined a request to meet with Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat in the city. Barkat was invited instead to meet the mayor at a reception at the British ambassador’s residence near Tel Aviv, which Barkat declined.

William and his entourage stayed at the historic King David Hotel in Jerusalem while visiting Israel. The itinerary released by Kensington Palace said that during his visit to the Old City of Jerusalem he would be in the “Occupied Palestinian Territories.”