Prince William’s urgent foreign trip to Notre-Dame after being asked by UK Government

Prince William is to make a last-minute trip to France tomorrow at the request of the UK government.

It has been confirmed that the Prince of Wales will attend the huge reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, five years after a fire threatened to destroy it. William is travelling to the event, which will also be attended by Donald Trump on behalf of King Charles and the government.

A Kensington Palace spokesman said: “The Prince of Wales will travel to Paris tomorrow to attend the ceremony marking the reopening of the Notre-Dame Cathedral. His Royal Highness is travelling at the request of His Majesty’s Government on behalf of the United Kingdom.”

The reopening of the 12th century Paris landmark will take place in a succession of ceremonies to breathe life back into the famous cathedral and celebrate the recovery from the devastating fire in 2019. As flames tore through the building it destroyed ancient aretfacts, most of the roof as well as its landmark spire.

For the reopening ceremony tomorrow, US President-elect Donald Trump and dozens of heads of state and government accepted invites from French President Emmanuel Macron after a £600million restoration programme. It will be the first time William has met the new US president-elect in five years with their last meeting coming in 2019 when Trump came on a state visit to the UK and was hosted by the late Queen the last time he was in the White House.

The Notre-Dame reopening service will be led by the Catholic archbishop of Paris Laurent Ulrich and will see the building’s great organ be played in public for the first time since the blaze coated the nearly 8,000 pipes with toxic dust released when the lead roofing burned.