Prince William appears to have made quite the impression on Donald Trump following their meeting in Paris over the weekend.
In a gushing interview with US media, the president-elect said the pair had a “good talk” and reportedly described the Prince of Wales as “very handsome”.
“He’s a good-looking guy. He looked really, very handsome,” Mr Trump told the New York Post.
“Some people look better in person? He looked great. He looked really nice, and I told him that.”
They were both visiting the French capital to earlier attend the official reopening of Notre-Dame and to see the result of a five-year project to restore the iconic cathedral following a devastating fire in 2019.
Prince William attended the meeting wearing a smart suit and tie and sporting his relatively new beard.
According to the Post, Mr Trump and the prince also talked about the King and the Princess of Wales – who have both undergone cancer treatment this year.
Image: Prince William meets US president-elect Donald Trump in Paris. Pic: Reuters
Image: Pic: AP
“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,” Mr Trump, 78, reportedly said.
According to an earlier statement by Kensington Palace, the pair discussed a range of global issues but focused on the importance of the UK-US special relationship.
Kensington Palace added Mr Trump also “shared some warm and fond memories” with Prince William about his late grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, for which the 42-year-old royal was “extremely grateful”.
As Mr Trump arrived, they shook hands and the US president-elect, who is due to take office on 20 January, then gestured to William and added: “Good man, this one.”
At the earlier event in the Paris cathedral, they shook hands, exchanged a few words and Mr Trump patted William on the shoulder.
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2:04
US President-elect Donald Trump has met Prince William and French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris.
It was the first time the pair had met since the American was re-elected president last month.
The last time they met was during his state visit to the UK in 2019.
At Saturday evening’s Notre-Dame service attended by heads of state, Mr Trump sat next to French President Emmanuel Macron.
Among the 1,500 dignitaries were billionaire Elon Musk – a close adviser in Mr Trump’s transition team – US first lady Jill Biden and Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Image: Donald Trump, Emmanuel Macron and Volodymyr Zelenskyy met earlier in the day. Pic: AP
The guests also included Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Prince Albert of Monaco, and former French presidents Francois Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy.
The event in the French capital marked the reopening of the 12th-century church after the world-famous building almost collapsed in a fire in April 2019.
Mr Trump also met with Mr Macron and Mr Zelenskyy at the Elysee Palace.
Worldwide stock markets have plummeted for the second day running as the fallout from Donald Trump’s global tariffs continues.
While European and Asian markets suffered notable falls, American indexes were the worst hit, with Wall Street closing to a sea of red on Friday following Thursday’s rout – the worst day in US markets since the COVID-19 pandemic.
All three of the US’s major indexes were down by more than 5% at market close; The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted 5.5%, the S&P 500 was 5.97% lower, and the Nasdaq Composite slipped 5.82%.
The Nasdaq was also 22% below its record-high set in December, which indicates a bear market.
Ever since the US president announced the tariffs on Wednesday evening, analysts estimate that around $4.9trn (£3.8trn) has been wiped off the value of the global stock market.
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Mr Trump has remained unapologetic as the markets struggle, posting in all-caps on Truth Social before the markets closed that “only the weak will fail”.
The UK’s leading stock market, the FTSE 100, also suffered its worst daily drop in more than five years, closing 4.95% down, a level not seen since March 2020.
And the Japanese exchange Nikkei 225 dropped by 2.75% at end of trading, down 20% from its recent peak in July last year.
Image: US indexes had the worst day of trading since the COVID-19 pandemic. Pic: Reuters
Trump holds trade deal talks – reports
It comes as a source told CNN that Mr Trump has been in discussions with Vietnamese, Indianand Israelirepresentatives to negotiate bespoke trade deals that could alleviate proposed tariffs on those countries before a deadline next week.
The source told the US broadcaster the talks were being held in advance of the reciprocal levies going into effect next week.
Vietnam faced one of the highest reciprocal tariffs announced by the US president this week, with 46% rates on imports. Israeli imports face a 17% rate, and Indian goods will be subject to 26% tariffs.
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China – hit with 34% tariffs on imported goods – has also announced it will issue its own levy of the same rate on US imports.
Mr Trump said China “played it wrong” and “panicked – the one thing they cannot afford to do” in another all-caps Truth Social post earlier on Friday.
Later, on Air Force One, the US president told reporters that “the beauty” of the tariffs is that they allow for negotiations, referencing talks with Chinese company ByteDance on the sale of social media app TikTok.
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Tariffs: Xi hits back at Trump
He said: “We have a situation with TikTok where China will probably say, ‘We’ll approve a deal, but will you do something on the tariffs?’
“The tariffs give us great power to negotiate. They always have.”
Global financial markets gave a clear vote of no-confidence in President Trump’s economic policy.
The damage it will do is obvious: costs for companies will rise, hitting their earnings.
The consequences will ripple throughout the global economy, with economists now raising their expectations for a recession, not only in the US, but across the world.
The court ruled to uphold the impeachment saying the conservative leader “violated his duty as commander-in-chief by mobilising troops” when he declared martial law.
The president was also said to have taken actions “beyond the powers provided in the constitution”.
Image: Demonstrators stayed overnight near the constitutional court. Pic: AP
Supporters and opponents of the president gathered in their thousands in central Seoul as they awaited the ruling.
The 64-year-old shocked MPs, the public and international allies in early December when he declared martial law, meaning all existing laws regarding civilians were suspended in place of military law.
Image: The court was under heavy police security guard ahead of the announcement. Pic: AP
After suddenly declaring martial law, Mr Yoon sent hundreds of soldiers and police officers to the National Assembly.
He has argued that he sought to maintain order, but some senior military and police officers sent there have told hearings and investigators that Mr Yoon ordered them to drag out politicians to prevent an assembly vote on his decree.
His presidential powers were suspended when the opposition-dominated assembly voted to impeach him on 14 December, accusing him of rebellion.
The unanimous verdict to uphold parliament’s impeachment and remove Mr Yoon from office required the support of at least six of the court’s eight justices.
South Korea must hold a national election within two months to find a new leader.
Lee Jae-myung, leader of the main liberal opposition Democratic Party, is the early favourite to become the country’s next president, according to surveys.