‘He’s a good man, this one’: Trump meets William in Paris

Donald Trump has marked his return to the international stage in grand style, shaking hands with the Prince of Wales and President Macron at the reopening of Notre Dame.

US President-elect Donald Trump meets Britain's Prince William, Prince of Wales at the UK Ambassador's Residence in Paris, France. Picture: Getty

Donald Trump has marked his return to the international stage in grand style in Paris, shaking hands with the Prince of Wales and President Macron at the reopening of Notre Dame.

The American president-elect was among 1,500 dignitaries and worshippers, including William and President Zelensky of Ukraine, in the 850-year-old Gothic cathedral, which was almost destroyed by a fire in April 2019.

Trump met William for talks after the ceremony, in a sign of how the next US president might want to run the future ­“special relationship”.

US President-elect Donald Trump sits down with Prince William in the Salon Jaune room. Picture: AFP

The meeting reinforced the prince’s desire to burnish his credentials on the global stage as well as Trump’s eagerness to align himself with the royal family. The men met in 2019 during Trump’s state visit to the UK, when the President hailed Queen Elizabeth’s “treasured friendship” with America.Trump, 78, and William, 42, spent about 40 minutes together at the residence of Dame Menna Rawlings, the UK ambassador to France, who joined them for what royal aides described as a “warm and friendly” meeting. They discussed a range of global issues but focused on the importance of the special relationship. Trump also shared some “fond memories” with William about the late Queen, for which aides said the prince was “extremely grateful”.

Welcoming Trump to Rawlings’s residence, William said: “Very good to see you.” Trump turned to the media, gestured to William and said: “He’s a good man, this one … nice to see you.” Commenting on the weather, William asked Trump: “Are you warmed up?” The president-elect praised the “beautiful ceremony” at Notre Dame before complimenting William again, saying: “He’s doing a fantastic job.”

Being seen shaking hands with the future King is likely to delight Trump, who relishes his ties with the royal family.

Earlier, Macron greeted William warmly as he arrived under a canopy erected in front of Notre Dame a few minutes before the ceremony was due to begin.

French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte welcome Prince William. Picture: AFP

Zelensky was met with sustained applause as he took his seat, but there were only a few half-hearted claps for Trump when he followed him into the cathedral. There was no sign of his wife Melania, who arrived with him on a private plane on Saturday morning.

Earlier in the afternoon, Macron welcomed Trump to the Élysée Palace with a full guard of honour. The two men greeted each other with a long and muscular handshake – reminiscent of the one they used during a previous meeting in 2017 during Trump’s first term.

“It seems like the world is going a little crazy right now and we will be talking about that,” Trump told reporters as he prepared to sit down for their talks, which started 45 minutes later than scheduled.

The two men also held joint talks with Zelensky, amid fears in Ukraine that Trump could cut arms supplies to the country and force it into concluding an unfavourable peace deal with President Putin of Russia.

Zelensky said: “We all want this war [in Ukraine] to end as soon as possible and in a just way. We spoke about our people, the situation on the ground, and a just peace.”

Despite having tensions with Macron during his first term, Trump hailed their ties, adding: “We had a great relationship as everyone knows. We accomplished a lot.”

Macron said it was “a great honour for the French people to welcome you” for the ceremony, which followed a €700 million renovation of the cathedral, completed in record time.

“You were president at that time and I remember the solidarity and the immediate reaction,” Macron added, speaking in English.Trump was widely mocked while the cathedral was burning for going on social media to urge French authorities to use Canadair aircraft to douse the flames with water. Experts warned it would have probably brought down the building.

Laurent Ulbrich, the archbishop of Paris, began the cathedral ceremony by tapping three times on the giant doors of Notre Dame with a staff crafted from charred wood salvaged during the fire.

Crowds stand outside Notre-Dame Cathedral as it is illuminated during a ceremony to mark its re-opening. Picture: AFP

Those present took their seats in a previously dark and gloomy cathedral that has been transformed into a much lighter and brighter place as part of the renovation.

The works not only repaired the considerable damage done by the blaze but also involved cleaning centuries of grime from those parts of the building that survived.

Crowds of tourists and Parisians, meanwhile, began to converge on the opposite side of the Seine, the closest they could get to the cathedral, which had been sealed off behind a massive security cordon on the Île de la Cité.

During the two-hour ceremony, psalms, prayers and hymns filled the cavernous space, while four organists performed an improvised interplay of melodies on the magnificent Grand Organ, the largest in France and the star of the evening.

Guests attend a ceremony to mark the re-opening of the landmark Notre-Dame cathedral. Picture: AFP

The instrument, which has 8,000 pipes, survived the blaze intact but was covered in dust and soot and had to be completely dismantled and cleaned. Retuning and harmonising it then took six months.

Macron was due to speak outside but his address was moved inside in expectation of winds of up to 50mph as Storm Darragh moved across from Britain.

The President paid tribute to the firefighters who scaled the facade of the cathedral to save what remained. “There was no more spire, the transept had collapsed, there was lead flowing everywhere. yet the Virgin Mary was intact, immaculate just a few centimetres from the fallen spire. Notre Dame de Paris had been saved — disfigured but saved by the courage of these people.

“Cathedrals are also mortal and yet we decided to take the leap. We had the will, the hope, daring to rebuild Notre Dame. to make it more beautiful than before in five years.”

The ceremony, a blend of solemn Catholic tradition with cultural grandeur, will give the French leader a brief respite from his political woes, which deepened on Wednesday when Michel Barnier, his prime minister, was toppled in a confidence vote. He has yet to select a replacement.Towards the end of the ceremony, Trump could be seen closing his eyes, as if he were sleeping.

The service is being followed by a concert tonight featuring Pharrell Williams — singing his song, Happy — and a number of prominent classical performers including the pianist Lang Lang, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, and soprano Pretty Yende.

The cathedral, which used to be visited by 10-12 million people a year, was only just saved from the fire, which appears to have begun among the intricate and highly inflammable 13th-century oaken framework, known as the forêt (forest), that holds up the roof.

The flames spread rapidly through the building, bringing down its distinctive spire, which was added by the architect, Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, as part of the last major renovation in the 1850s.

Arson was quickly ruled out, but investigators have still yet to determine the precise cause of the blaze, which happened at a time when work was being done on it.

Remy Heitz, chief Paris prosecutor at the time of the initial investigation, said he thought the most likely cause was an electrical fault or smouldering cigarette. No charges have since been filed against anyone.

The cathedral’s imposing structure has been rebuilt exactly as it was before the fire, despite initial suggestions by some, including Macron, that the spire in particular should be replaced with a more contemporary design.

Trump joins leaders in Paris at re-opening of Notre Dame

Entries into a competition for an alternative included a proposal to put a greenhouse or a swimming pool on the roof. To the relief of Parisians and tourists alike, more conservative voices eventually prevailed.

The interior has been transformed, however: the works, completed at Macron’s insistence with extraordinary speed, included polishing 40,000 square metres of stonework.

The 29 chapels circling the nave and choir, previously dulled by dirt and neglect, are now full of colour; restorers have uncovered murals, gilded stars on ceilings and vibrant motifs.

One of the highlights is the Crown of Thorns, brought by Saint Louis from the Holy Land in 1263, which is housed in a new reliquary. The previous glass box in which it was displayed was smashed when it was snatched from the flames.