King Charles appeared to hand a subtle olive branch to his estranged son, Prince Harry, and his wife, Meghan Markle, as he gave out a warning about an issue close to their heart. The King travelled to Manchester on Monday, where he met survivors of the Heaton Park synagogue attack during a visit to the congregation to deliver his sympathy in person.
“I can’t tell you how sad I am,” the King told the group, which included the synagogue’s chairman Alan Levy, who helped to barricade the door, and its president Hilary Foxler. Charles later thanked the emergency services who responded to the incident, described as a “challenging day from all agencies’ point of view,” by Tom Weate, group manager for Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service.
He also expressed his fears about the dangers of online and stressed the need to “deradicalise” people from what they see on the “ghastliness of social media”.
The attack took place on October 2, on the day of Yom Kippur, the most holy day in the Jewish calendar, as many worshipped inside the synagogue in Crumpsall, north Manchester.
Jihad Al-Shamie, a 35-year-old British citizen of Syrian origin, crashed into pedestrians with his car before he started stabbing them.
Three people, including the attacker, were killed, while another three were injured.
Charles’s latest warning echoes Harry and Meghan’s campaign over the years against the dangers of social media.
The couple have long campaigned for mental health support where needed and prioritising online safety for families and young people.
During a recent appearance in New York, where they received an award for their humanitarian work, the Sussexes urged parents to stand against social media companies that they said prey upon children with exploitative algorithms as the “explosion of unregulated artificial intelligence” adds to their concerns that technologies’ benefits are inseparable from its dangers.
