Kate Middleton and Prince William join Auschwitz survivors at poignant Holocaust Memorial Day service

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have joined Holocaust survivors in central London to mark 75 years of the liberation of the notorious Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.

The pair walked through the rain to Westminster’s Central Hall for the poignant commemorative ceremony, which honoured the victims and survivors of the Holocaust, the Nazi Persecution and subsequent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur.

As the Holocaust Memorial Day service began, Prince William read an extract from a letter written by a friend of his great-grandmother, Princess Alice, which described her efforts to save Jews in Athens.

Last week Prince Charles visited her tomb on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, where she was honoured as “Righteous Among the Nations” in Israel for sheltering a Jewish family during World War Two.

The duke and duchess began today's sombre event by meeting with Olivia Marks-Woldman, chief executive of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust (HMDT), and the trust's honorary president and Holocaust survivor Sir Ben Helfgott.

William told them: "We were talking this morning about how you carry on this message for future generations. We will do our best."

The royal couple then helped survivors to light six candles on stage, which will be used to light 75 candles to mark the anniversary of Auschwitz's liberation.

This year also marks 25 years since the Srebrenica genocide, in which Bosnian Serb troops and paramilitaries led by Ratko Mladic attacked the town, murdering some 8,000 men and boys.

The HMDT promotes and supports Holocaust Memorial Day, which has been marked in the UK since 2001 and which aims to educate communities about the past, honour those who survived such terrible atrocities, and take action to create a safer future.

The charity also works in partnership with many other organisations to ensure the life stories of survivors are shared with hundreds of thousands of people.

This afternoon's service follows news that Kate is to display moving photos of Holocaust survivors at a special exhibition later this year, bringing together 75 powerful images of survivors and their family members to commemorate 75 years since the end of one of the worst atrocities humankind has ever seen.

The Holocaust Memorial Day Commemorative Ceremony will be broadcast on BBC2 at 7pm tonight.