Prince William will be part of Donald Trump and different world leaders at reopening of Notre Dame cathedral 5 years after it was gutted by hearth

Prince William is set to join Donald Trump and other world leaders at the reopening ceremony of the Notre Dame cathedral five years after it was gutted by a devastating fire. 

The Prince of Wales, 42, will be heading to Paris for the opening ceremony of the 800-year-old building, which has been rebuilt after being ravaged by a huge fire in April, 2019.

Millions watched live as the wooden spire and roof were engulfed by the inferno, which likely started either by a cigarette or a short circuit in the electrical system.

It’s taken more than five years rebuild the iconic landmark in the French capital after £582,000,000 was donated to the restoration project.

Prince William accepted an invitation from French President Emmanuel Macron to attend Notre Dame’s grand re-opening, on Saturday – with US President-elect Donald Trump among the VIPs set to join the royal at the service. 

The spectacle will be led by Laurent Ulrich, the Catholic archbishop of Paris, with more than 1,500 guests expected to pack into the newly-refurbished cathedral for the service. 

The ceremony will begin when archbishop Ulrich bangs on the Notre Dame’s great doors with his crosier, a staff created by the designer Sylvain Dubuisson using pieces of wood from the cathedral roof, which collapsed in the blaze.

After the opening rites, Ulrich will then address the great organ, which has not been heard in public since the fire five years ago ravaged its 8,000 pipes. 

William will be representing his father, King Charles, during the reopening – with the landmark world event underlining the Prince’s growing role as a statesman.  

However, it’s believed the Prince of Wales will not attend the second part of the grand re-opening on Sunday, which will involve an inaugural mass that will see the main altar being consecrated.

The heir to the throne’s upcoming trip to Paris this weekend comes after King Charles made a state visit to France last year.

This week, the King revealed he was ‘delighted’ to see Notre Dame had been restored to its former glory.

Meanwhile. in a rare joint engagement at the French ambassador’s residence to promote her literary prize, Queen Camilla was presented with a book about the cathedral by Brigitte Macron, President Macron’s wife.

The Catholic faithful are so eager to worship again inside Notre Dame that tickets for the first week of Masses were snapped up in 25 minutes, the cathedral’s rector said.

On the evening of April 15 2019, millions around the globe watched on in horror as live pictures were broadcast of orange flames ripping through the roof of the cathedral, before the 19th Century spire came crashing down to the ground.

Some 600 firefighters battled the inferno for 15 hours. Miraculously, no one was killed or injured during the catastrophe. 

Some 2,000 stone masons, carpenters, roofers, foundry-workers, art experts, sculptors and engineers were needed to restore the gothic building, which was originally completed in 1345. 

In a speech last month to the craftsmen and women who worked on the refurbishment, Macron said: ‘The blaze at Notre Dame was a national wound, and you have been its remedy through will, through work, through commitment.

‘You did your alchemy here on this site to turn charred coals into art.’ 

‘I am so deeply grateful, France is so deeply grateful…you have brought Notre Dame back.’

Before the fire, efforts to fund renovations of the nearly 900-year-old cathedral had been struggling. But that changed with the blaze.

‘We had an outpouring of support,’ said fund-raising committee member Michel Picaud. ‘I received 400 donations an hour, so my smartphone completely crashed.’

In all, 340,000 people from more than 150 countries donated 846million euros, the public body in charge of Notre Dame’s restoration says. The support testifies to the global affection for the monument that transcends frontiers and faiths.

‘It’s something which belongs to everybody,’ Mr Picaud said. The nonprofit he leads, Friends of Notre-Dame de Paris, has raised £44million from 50,000 international donors, most of them Americans.

‘It’s not only a Parisian cathedral or monument,’ he said. ‘All over the world, I think, people have the feeling that this is part of their, I would say, heritage.’

At the reopening, billionaire donors from France and beyond will rub shoulders with other guests.

They will include ‘the poorest among Parisians, all those who are helped by charitable associations and who will be several hundred inside the cathedral,’ Reverend Olivier Ribadeau Dumas, Notre Dame’s rector, said.

Although construction work continues outside, the restored interiors look more magnificent than they have for generations.

The limestone walls have been cleaned of years of accumulated grime. Vaulted ceilings that collapsed have been repaired. The archbishop and other members have new garments, from a designer who has also dressed Beyonce, Rihanna and other stars. The cathedral also has new furniture, including a new altar to replace one crushed when the flaming spire collapsed.

The rector says ‘no one alive has seen the cathedral’ as it looks now.

‘The blondness of the stone, the brilliance of the paintings, the light through the stained glass windows, all the artworks, all the paintings, that were cleaned, the statues that were restored,’ he said.

‘All of that did not exist before the fire.’