King accepts role with charity protecting Jewish communities
The monarch was confirmed as the new patron of the Community Security Trust on Monday evening – just hours after the Golders Green arson attack.
The King has been announced as patron of the charity which protects British Jews from terrorism and antisemitism, in the wake of the Golders Green attack.
Charles accepted the invitation from the Community Security Trust (CST), which monitors antisemitism and provides protection for Jewish communities in the UK, the organisation said.
The incident in Golders Green, north-west London, saw four Jewish community ambulances set on fire and destroyed in the early hours of Monday.
The Metropolitan Police is investigating whether an Islamist group with possible Iranian state links is behind the arson.
The CST, which has more than 2,000 volunteers, provides security advice and equipment to Jewish schools, organisations and synagogues.
Conservative peer Lord Finkelstein announced the King’s new patronage at the start of the charity’s annual fundraising dinner on Monday evening – just hours after the incident which targeted Jewish community ambulance service Hatzola.
It is understood the patronage was part of a regular review of royal patronages and had been in the works for some time, rather than being in direct response to the events in Golders Green.
The announcement was timed to coincide with the annual dinner, which was attended by Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood and Met Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley.
The King has long supported the Jewish community and is patron of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust.
He travelled to Poland last year to attend moving events marking the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the former Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz.
As the Prince of Wales, he commissioned seven portraits of some of the nation’s last remaining Holocaust survivors to serve as a “powerful testament” of their experiences.
The CST said the King had accepted the invitation, “highlighting His Majesty’s long-standing support for the UK’s Jewish community and the wider fight against antisemitism”.
It added that the monarch’s “commitment to promoting tolerance, inclusion and interfaith understanding aligns closely with CST’s mission to protect British Jews”.
The latest official figures on hate crime recorded by police in England and Wales showed Jewish people had the highest rate of religious hate crimes targeted towards them than any other faith group.
In the year to March 2025, there were 106 religious hate crimes per 10,000 population targeted at Jewish people, the Home Office said in figures published in October.
Separate figures covering the 12 months of 2025, published earlier this year by the CST, which monitors antisemitism in the UK, concluded the second-highest annual total recorded for anti-Jewish hate incidents, at 3,700 – up 4% on the 3,556 incidents recorded in 2024.
