Prince Charles likened some Nazi actions in Europe to those of Russia’s Vladimir Putin, said Marienne Ferguson, a former Polish war refugee who met the prince in Canada.
Marienne Ferguson was speaking after meeting Prince Charles at a Nova Scotia immigration museum where she works.
As they discussed Hitler’s takeover of countries, Prince Charles “said something to the effect of <<it’s not unlike… what Putin is doing>>,” she recalled.
Clarence House said it would not comment on a private conversation.
Prince Charles and Vladimir Putin are both due to attend a D-Day anniversary event in France next month.
On Monday, Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall visited Pier 21, Canada’s national immigration museum in Halifax, during their four-day tour of the country.
The prince chatted to museum volunteer Marriene Ferguson, who left Poland for Canada just prior to the Nazi occupation.
Marienne Ferguson, now 78, managed to escape to Canada along with her parents and two sisters, but other members of her family were sent to Nazi camps, according to the Daily Mail.
“He [Prince Charles] asked when I came to Canada, I told him 1939,” Marienne Ferguson said.
They had discussed how “Hitler was going into different countries and taking them over”.
She added that she could not “exactly remember” the phrase Prince Charles had used, but that he then “said something to the effect of ‘it is not unlike what is now happening in Russia, what Putin is doing'”.
“But it was only a moment… It was a very short remark.”
Vladimir Putin has been widely condemned since he annexed Crimea from Ukraine in March.
Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made the same comparison between Vladimir Putin and Hitler in March, when Russia began issuing passports to Ukrainian citizens.
“Now if this sounds familiar, it’s what Hitler did back in the ’30s,” Hillary Clinton said.
Prince Charles has previously faced criticism at Westminster over his so-called “black spider” memos expressing his views on controversial issues to ministers.
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