Rabbi Ephraim Mervis, new chief rabbi of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth, addressing the delegates at the World Jewish Congress's Plenary Assembly, closing dinner in Budapest, May 2013. Photo: Screenshot.

Charles, Prince of Wales, will be attending the induction ceremony of Rabbi Ephraim Mervis as he becomes the new Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth, this Sunday at London’s St. John’s Wood Synagogue, the UK’s Jewish News reported.

Two months ago, Prince Charles also attended a tribute dinner celebrating the departing chief rabbi, Lord Jonathan Sacks’s 22 years in office.

Some 1,400 guests will attend the induction ceremony, including leader of the UK’s Labour Party, Ed Miliband, Met Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe and Archbishop of Westminster Vincent Nichols, along with many representatives from government and parliament as well as peers and other chief rabbis.

In a statement, Rabbi Mervis, the former Chief Rabbi of Ireland and long-term minister of Finchley United Synagogue, said his priorities in his new post will be “enhancing and strengthening Jewish education, building and developing our communities and realizing fully our potential for social responsibility.”

Rabbi Mirvis said he was preparing to take up the role “with great humility.”

“I am filled with gratitude to God who has guided and protected me from the time of my birth and upbringing in South Africa, through my studies in Israel, on to the years when I had the privilege to lead Irish Jewry and communities in the UK, through to this very special moment,” he said.

Mervis also praised his predecessor Lord Sacks as “a leading spokesman of Judaism for our generation. Through the sheer brilliance of his writings and speeches, he has touched the hearts and molded the minds of thousands upon thousands of people, not just in this country, but around the world.”