The Prince of Wales is to join Donald Trump at the official reopening of Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris on Saturday, Kensington Palace has announced.
Prince William, 42, accepted an invitation from Emmanuel Macron, the French president, to attend the ceremony five years after the cathedral was destroyed by a fire.
He will join president-elect Mr Trump, dozens of world leaders and more than 1,500 guests for the service, which will be led by Laurent Ulrich, the Catholic archbishop of Paris.
The Prince is travelling at the request of the Government, the palace said.
He last met Mr Trump in 2019, when the then-president made a state visit to the UK, joining senior royals including Elizabeth II and the then-Prince Charles for a traditional white tie state banquet at Buckingham Palace.
The Notre-Dame fire broke out on the evening of 15 April 2019, starting in the attic and destroying the oak roof beams and supporting lead roof.
Saturday evening’s service will begin with a ceremonial reopening of the cathedral’s great doors, the playing of its organ and the celebration of the first Mass.
Ulrich will first reopen the doors by tapping them with his crozier, or bishop’s staff, created by designer Sylvain Dubuisson using pieces of wood – bearing visible black traces from the blaze – that fell from the cathedral roof during the inferno.
In response to the archbishop’s door-knocks, the choir will erupt into song. That back-and-forth will happen three times before the doors open so guests can head inside past sculptures of biblical figures.
Ulrich will then “reawaken” the cathedral organ, whose 8,000 pipes were destroyed by the toxic dust released as the lead roofing burnt. He will address it directly with a series of eight incantations, starting with “Awaken, organ, sacred instrument: Sing the praise of God.”
The painstaking re-tuning of the organ took about six months, with tuners working throughout the night so they could tweak the notes with no other noise present.
Sunday will mark the cathedral’s inaugural mass, with special rites to consecrate the main altar.
Tickets for the first week of masses were snapped up in 25 minutes, the rector has said.
The King and Queen visited Notre-Dame during their state visit to France last September.
Accompanied by Mr Macron and his wife Brigitte, they met firefighters who worked to halt the fire as well as stonemasons working to repair statues and gargoyles.
The King joked with the firefighters that they were working “as quickly as possible” to meet Mr Macron’s five-year deadline for the reconstruction, which has been met.
When the French president committed to rebuilding the cathedral, more than €800 million was privately pledged for reconstruction and renovation works within 24 hours of a global appeal.
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