Pence’s office quashes talk of snub from Prince Charles

Vice President Pence’s office on Thursday quashed talk that the United Kingdom’s Prince Charles had snubbed Pence during a visit to the World Holocaust Forum in Jerusalem.

A video, which quickly gained steam on Twitter, showed Charles walking past Pence and not shaking his hand while shaking hands with other world leaders at the forum, prompting chatter about a snub.

Prince Charles skips greeting US’s Pence, shakes hands with Israel’s Netanyahuhttps://t.co/mXvkSNVkDn pic.twitter.com/9RVBwVBkg4

— Yeni Şafak English (@yenisafakEN) January 23, 2020

But other photos of the event provided a very different view of the interactions between Pence and Charles.

All smiles as VP Pence exchanges greetings with Prince Charles at World Holocaust Forum in Jerusalem which @VP addressed this morning. (Official White House Photo Myles D. Cullen) pic.twitter.com/R85PXgBxHo

— Mark Knoller (@markknoller) January 23, 2020

Pence press secretary Katie Waldman shared that photo, and said the two spoke “prior to entering the event floor” and after Pence’s remarks as well. She said it was “not true” that Charles had snubbed Pence and second lady Karen Pence by not shaking their hands.

Pence, who sat next to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during the program, delivered remarks during the forum at Yad Vashem on Thursday.

“It is deeply humbling for me to stand before you today, on behalf of the American people, as we mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz,” Pence said at the outset of his remarks.

“On this occasion, here on Mount Herzl, we gather to fulfill a solemn obligation — an obligation of remembrance: to never allow the memory of those who died in the Holocaust to be forgotten by anyone, anywhere in the world,” the vice president continued.

Charles and Pence also shook hands at the conclusion of the vice president’s remarks.