HRH Prince Charles: These paintings will be a guiding light

Behind every portrait is a unique story, of a life lived, of love, of loss. Through paintbrush strokes on a canvas, an artist shows us, up close, our individuality and uniqueness in the way we look, and in who we are.

Yet portraits also serve to remind us that our common humanity precedes our differences. We might not belong to the same race, be part of the same religion, or share a culture or creed, yet we all inhabit the same planet, breathe the same air and are part of the universal human story. We are ultimately connected, and therefore responsible for one another, for our collective history and our shared future.

One of the starkest reminders of this was the Holocaust, when a third of Europe’s Jews were brutally murdered by the Nazi regime as it sought to extinguish not just the Jewish people, but Judaism.

Seven portraits. Seven faces. Each a survivor of the horrors of those years, who sought refuge and a home in Britain after the war, becoming an integral part of the fabric of our nation. However, these portraits represent something far greater than seven remarkable individuals. They stand as a living memorial to the six million innocent men, women and children whose stories will never be told, whose portraits will never be painted. They stand as a powerful testament to the quite extraordinary resilience and courage of those who survived and who, despite their advancing years, have continued to tell the world of the unimaginable atrocities they witnessed. They stand as a permanent reminder for our generation – and indeed, to future generations – of the depths of depravity and evil to which humankind can fall when reason, compassion and truth are abandoned.

I am incredibly grateful to the hugely talented artists who participated in this important project – many associated with my Drawing School – and to the generous supporters who made this exhibition possible.

As the number of Holocaust survivors sadly, but inevitably, declines, my abiding hope is that this special collection will act as a further guiding light for our society, reminding us not only about history’s darkest days, but of humanity’s interconnectedness as we strive to create a better world for our children, grandchildren and generations as yet unborn; one where hope is victorious over despair and love triumphs over hate.

READ MORE: Seven paintings commissioned by Prince Charles of Holocaust survivors