His Royal Highness Crown Prince Pavlos, Vice President of Prince’s Trust International and the eldest son of King Constantine and Queen Anne-Marie of Greece, will accept the 2023 Athenagoras Human Rights Award on behalf of the Prince’s Trust. The Award will be presented on Saturday, October 21, 2023 at the annual Athenagoras Human Rights Award banquet of the Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, which will be held at the New York Hilton Hotel in New York City.
The Founder and President of the Prince’s Trust, His Majesty King Charles III, is unable to attend the event, and stated: “I am particularly delighted that His Royal Highness Crown Prince Pavlos, Vice President of Prince’s Trust International, has agreed to receive the Athenagoras Human Rights Award.” Will Straw, Chief Executive Officer of Prince’s Trust International, will also be in attendance at the banquet as an honored guest on the dais.
Crown Prince Pavlos has been a major source of strength and guidance for Prince’s Trust International since its founding in 2015. He was the Chair of the charity’s Global Advisory Board, steering its strategic direction in its early days. His Royal Highness was also instrumental in establishing, piloting and growing Prince’s Trust International programs in Greece, where he opened doors, helped with fundraising and was on hand to offer advice where needed.
Following the death of Queen Elizabeth II last September, King Charles said: “It will no longer be possible for me to give so much of my time and energies to the charities and issues for which I care so deeply. But I know this important work will go on in the trusted hands of others.” It was at that time that Crown Prince Pavlos was asked to become Vice President of Prince’s Trust International. As such, he is the most fitting official of Prince’s Trust International to accept the Athenagoras Human Rights Award on behalf of this profoundly effective charity.
The Prince’s Trust is a youth charity that was founded by His Majesty King Charles III, then The Prince of Wales, in 1976. Prince’s Trust International has had a major positive impact upon Greece, particularly while that nation has been plagued with high unemployment rates. Upon learning about the award from Dr. Anthony J. Limberakis, National Commander of the Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, Buckingham Palace informed the Archons that “as Founder and President, His Majesty King Charles III was delighted to hear of the very kind award to the Prince’s Trust.”
The Athenagoras Human Rights Award was established in 1986 by the National Council of the Order of St. Andrew the Apostle, Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in America. The Award was named after one of the great Church leaders of the 20th Century, the late Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Athenagoras I. The Award is presented every year at the Annual Banquet of the Order to a person or organization that has consistently exemplified by action, purpose and dedication, concern for the basic rights and religious freedom of all people.
Previous recipients include His Beatitude Theodore II, Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa; His Beatitude Epiphaniy, Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Ukraine; President Joseph Biden (when he was vice president); former President Jimmy Carter; former President George H. W. Bush and First Lady Barbara Bush; Nobel Laureate and former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev; Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel; Mother Theresa of Calcutta; and the scientists who developed COVID vaccines and treatments.
