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Donald Trump’s meeting with Prince William will have both ‘outraged’ and ‘worried’ Prince Harry, it was claimed today.
Royal experts have said it is not out of the question that President-elect Trump raised the Prince of Wales’s estranged brother and Meghan Markle in private talks at the UK Ambassador’s residence in Paris on Saturday.
The decision for William to attend the reopening of Notre-Dame Cathedral and meet President-elect Trump is viewed as another sign of the ‘transition of power’ from King Charles to his eldest son as Britain’s monarch battles cancer.
Mr Trump revealed that Prince William told him King Charles III ‘is fighting very hard’ as his cancer treatment continues – and the Princess of Wales is ‘doing well’.
The US President-elect also told how they had a ‘great chat’ and described the bearded prince as looking ‘very handsome’ and a ‘good man’.
Royal biographer and investigative journalist Tom Bower predicted that Harry would be seething, and concerned, by the meeting. Harry is in the middle of a row over his visa, with Donald Trump now holding the power over whether his application will be published by the US courts. He could even to try to deport him if Harry lied about his historical drug use when he emigrated.
‘The image from Paris [of William and Trump together] must outrage the exiles in Montecito. They hate Trump and unlike the paltry events attended by the Sussexes, William was on the world stage alongside the powerbrokers,’ he said.
He added: ‘Seeing Prince William meet Donald Trump was an unusual pleasure. The prince embodies the future – both as the monarch and of Britain. He suggests both continuity and a fresh start. We are witnessing the beginning of the transition from King Charles.’
The Prince of Wales and US President-elect Donald Trump pose for a photo on Saturday. Experts have said that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will be seething
Donald Trump said the Prince of Wales is a ‘good man’ who is ‘doing a fantastic job’ as the pair met in Paris
Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, have links to the Biden family
Royal commentator Phil Dampier said: ‘I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall when William met Trump in Paris in case they discussed Harry.
‘Prince Harry, he and Meghan must be worried that a Trump presidency will put them in jeopardy.
‘Harry has of course admitted taking drugs and we don’t know if he declared this, as he should have done, on his visa application.’
He added: ‘William is now very much a king in waiting.
‘He will increasingly take on major roles in public that the King will not do because of his health and when Catherine is back to full fitness I think we will see the couple as the most important in the royal family.
‘The King and Queen are doing a great job but William and Kate are very much the future.’
Mr Dampier has predicted more Trump visits to the UK and perhaps welcome King Charles and Queen Camilla to the White House.
‘The King is obviously having to pace himself because of his cancer treatment, and Camilla is still recovering from pneumonia.
‘They will need to visit Canada some time, but that is not on the cards next year because it’s an election year.
‘So maybe Trump will come here next year and they will visit the following year, and combine a visit to the US with one to Canada.’
He added: ‘We are lucky that Trump loves the monarchy – often saying how much his Scottish mother adored the Queen – and it would be crazy to throw away that weapon.’
William went to the residence of the British ambassador for a meeting with Mr Trump
Mr Trump met the Prince of Wales for talks after they both attended the ceremonial reopening of Notre-Dame Cathedral following a devastating fire in 2019.
They spoke at the British ambassador’s residence on Saturday, and Mr Trump later revealed more about their conversation in an interview with the New York Post.
Kate is making a gradual return to public events after completing her cancer treatment in September, and joined her husband William and their children at Westminster Abbey for her annual Together at Christmas carol service last Friday.
Meanwhile the King has been stoically carrying on with his royal duties in recent months following his own cancer diagnosis being announced in February, after it was discovered while he was treated in hospital for an enlarged prostate.
Mr Trump told the Post: ‘I had a great talk with the prince. And I asked him about his wife and he said she’s doing well. And I asked him about his father and his father is fighting very hard, and he loves his father and he loves his wife, so it was sad.’
He added: ‘We had a great talk for half an hour, a little more than half an hour. We had a great, great talk.
‘He’s a good looking guy. He looked really, very handsome last night. Some people look better in person? He looked great. He looked really nice, and I told him that.’
Earlier, the pair shook hands in front of photographers and greeted one another before Mr Trump turned to reporters and said ‘wow, what a nice group’.
He then gestured to the prince and said: ‘Good man, this one.’
William asked the president-elect if he had warmed up after the event and Mr Trump replied that he had and that ‘it was a beautiful ceremony’.
The two men stood next to each other, facing reporters, and Mr Trump said ‘hello everybody’ before pointing his thumb at William and adding: ‘He’s doing a fantastic job.’
After speaking in the entrance of the building, they walked upstairs to begin their meeting.
Mr Trump and William sat on pale sofas in the Salon Jaune room, which had gold-coloured patterned wallpaper, a Christmas tree in the corner and a chandelier overhead.
The Prince of Wales and US President-elect Donald Trump have a meeting on Saturday
Before the meeting started, William said that ‘we can warm our toes up after the cathedral’ and Mr Trump smiled and responded ‘right, you’re right’.
The two paused in front of the cameras for a few seconds before Mr Trump said: ‘Thank you very much everyone.’
Kensington Palace said that during their 40-minute meeting, the pair discussed a range of global issues but focused on the importance of the relationship between the UK and the US, with the President-elect sharing fond memories of the late Queen Elizabeth II.
Earlier in the cathedral, Mr Trump gave William a pat on the shoulder before they shook hands.
The prince last met the 78-year-old in 2019 when the then-president made a state visit to the UK.
William received a warm greeting in the rainy French capital from president Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron.
President-elect Donald Trump greets Prince William at Notre-Dame Cathedral on Saturday
The prince also spoke to America’s outgoing first lady Jill Biden at the ceremony.
He was expected to discuss the importance of the US-UK relationship with Mr Trump and Mrs Biden.
Mr Trump did not mention any discussion about William’s estranged brother Prince Harry, having previously warned he would get no special privileges in America.
Mr Trump has lambasted the Duke of Sussex since he left Britain in 2020, criticising him for the ‘unforgiveable betrayal’ of his late grandmother Queen Elizabeth II.
He also suggested in March that Harry – who lives in Montecito, California – could be deported from the US if his drug use was not declared on his visa application.
It comes as an American think-tank is trying to reopen its case to get Harry’s secret visa application made public after he admitted taking drugs in his memoir.
Back in September 2020, soon after Harry and his wife Meghan Markle had moved to the US, the couple urged American voters to ‘reject hate speech, misinformation and online negativity’ in that year’s election which was eventually won by Joe Biden .
Donald Trump and Queen Elizabeth II at a state banquet at Buckingham Palace in June 2019
While the Sussexes did not endorse a candidate, the wording of their video message prompted accusations that they were referring to Mr Trump and had therefore breached UK protocol keeping members of the Royal Family political neutrality.
As for William, his last official visit to Paris was in 2017 when he travelled with wife Kate for a two-day trip in the aftermath of the Brexit result.
Earlier this year, he joined world leaders in Normandy for the 80th anniversary commemorations of the Second World War D-Day landings.
Notre-Dame’s reopening included the ritualised opening of the cathedral’s massive doors, the reawakening of its thunderous organ and the celebration of the first Mass.
Tickets for the first week of Masses were snapped up in 25 minutes, the cathedral’s rector said.
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