"In recent years the ties between Israel and Great Britain have become closer and closer.
Will Charles visit Israel as king?
It's impossible to guarantee, but I'm optimistic" - says British Ambassador to Israel Neil Wigan in an interview with "Israel Hayom".
According to Wigan, who is currently visiting London for the mourning events following the death of Queen Elizabeth II, the new king's ties with Israel are good and warm.
"It is true that the Queen has never visited Israel, but Charles visited several times and he received President Yitzhak Herzog very warmly.
Also, about three years ago, when I took office, Prince William visited Israel, and then I accompanied President Herzog when he visited Charles last November, so the general feeling is very positive.'
"There was never a boycott or a ban on the possibility of the Queen visiting Israel.
Will Charles come to visit as king too?
We really hope so, but we can't guarantee it will happen.
Now he has to decide on his visit plan, and he has a commitment to the countries where he is the head of state such as Canada and Australia.
It is clear that he has a great interest in what is happening in Israel.
His grandmother is buried in Jerusalem and was recognized as a Chassid of Nations.
The queen's funeral procession near the palace, photo: AP
"When the king was in Israel, we took him to see the Dead Sea Scrolls and he was completely fascinated and intrigued by them. The subject of the Holocaust is also very important to him, and he has friends who are Holocaust survivors. I saw how moved he was when he met Auschwitz survivors. I don't know how deeply the royal family is They have a great interest in Israeli politics, but in Israel itself. So I'm optimistic."
According to the ambassador, the relations between Israel and Great Britain have been in the trend of expansion and rapprochement in recent years, a process that began quite a bit after Brexit.
"The relations between the parties today are better and deeper in all areas: we are talking about trade, science and technology, but ties are also tightening in the military context.
We now have official understandings on the subject for the first time ever and recently we even saw Royal Air Force planes training in Israel, for the first time since 1948, and at the same time Israeli Air Force planes training in Britain.'
"Right now we are in negotiations towards signing a new trade agreement with Israel, and this will be the first time we have such an agreement.
Previously we had an agreement through the European Union, but now we are moving forward in this way for the first time.
It's a big thing.
In addition to the new king, we also have a new prime minister, who visited Israel last year and was the one who launched the negotiations for the new trade agreement when she served as foreign minister.
I met just yesterday with the new foreign minister and he also values the ties with Israel very much, so the future looks good.'
Charles III, the new King of England, photo: AP
On the subject of the fight against the Iranian nuclear program, Britain holds a relatively close position to that of Israel, and the ties on the subject are close.
"On the Iranian issue, there are of course things in which we do not agree with the Israeli position and there are things in which we agree, but all the time we work in close cooperation with Israel and we discuss the issue with the Israelis frequently.
When Yair Lapid visited London last November, he met Liz Truss, then the foreign minister, and she spoke very clearly about the fact that we are working with the Israelis to make sure that Iran does not have nuclear weapons.
Israel perceives us as holding positions close to its own regarding Iran, and we are very clear about the danger that we believe a nuclear Iran poses not only to Israel but to the entire region and the world.
We don't always agree with Israel on the path, but regarding the goal we see eye to eye.'
A new era is upon us
With a new king, a new prime minister, rampant inflation and fears of a gas crisis in the winter, Britain faces a series of tests in the coming months.
"It is true that we are going through a lot of changes, but Britain is a country that has existed for hundreds of years and we have gone through much harder times together.
I think that in recent days the country has really united around the funeral, and this will surely happen at the coronation ceremony as well, so we hope that this will have a positive effect.'
Liz Truss, photo: EPA
"We knew in advance that the funeral would be a huge event, but when you see the global reaction to the Queen's death - and the reaction in Israel - and you see the expressions of grief in the eyes, like the huge queue of people who were willing to stand for hours just to pay their respects in front of the Queen's coffin for a minute, This is amazing.
Most people in Britain today were born after the Queen was crowned, so for as long as we can remember, she has always been there.
She is just a big part of our lives.
Her picture appears on every bill, on every coin and stamp, in my official residence her portrait even appears on our cutlery.
She is simply very present in all of our lives.'
President Herzog and his wife Michal at the entrance to the funeral ceremony in the palace, photo: Reuters
"Do the expressions of grief we see stem from the institution or her personality?
The complex answer is that it is both.
The institution of the monarchy has existed for a thousand years and as soon as a queen dies, the new king takes her position immediately and we start singing 'God will save the king'.
Indeed, from the moment he became king we see a lot of support for him and that the public received him with a lot of warmth and sympathy.
So we see that the institution of the monarchy is very strong, but at the same time the queen was really something special, also because of the fact that she was simply there for so long and mainly because of the idea of 'serving the people' that she represented.
When she became queen she declared that she would dedicate her life to the service of the people, and for 75 years she really did that.
She is the last figure in the British public service who was in the ranks of the army in World War II.
It's amazing, I can't think of any other character like that in the world.'
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