Donald Trump failed to marry a royal

Donald Trump was feeling avuncular when he talked to Prince William at the British ambassador’s residence in Paris after the reopening of Notre Dame. “I had a great talk with the prince,” Trump told the New York Post. “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.”

This has ushered in hopes of a new era of British soft power and diplomacy with William earning goodwill at a time when Keir Starmer’s government is at odds with the US president-elect. There is something in this. In his own eyes, Trump could have been William’s stepfather. He apparently had high hopes of marrying Lady Diana after her divorce from the former Prince Charles in the 90s.

Selina Scott, the former ITV news presenter, recalled that Trump wanted Diana to be his “trophy wife” and showered her with flowers. “As the roses and orchids piled up at her apartment… it had begun to feel as if Trump was stalking her.” (Trump said: “I read that story that I was calling her or something and it was so false”.)

Imagine the late Diana as the First Lady. It’s not such a stretch. Trump views himself as a quasi-royal these days with a palace at Mar-a-Lago that resembles the court of the sun king, Louis XIV.

Potentates from the world of politics, finance and the media have been camping there for weeks in order to be near the royal personage, while lesser mortals who can afford the newly hiked $1m (£790,000) membership fee have a golden ticket to gawp, dine and dance in Trump’s company.

Queen Victoria was known as the “grandmother of Europe” because of the number of her offspring who became crowned heads. Napoleon installed his brother Joseph as King of Naples and then Spain. Trump hasn’t gone that far yet, but he is dispatching his relatives to grace and favour positions around the world in the same expectation that family ties are binding.

Ivanka Trump’s father-in-law, Charles Kushner, has just been named ambassador to France. He’s a New Jersey magnate property who went to jail after hiring a sex worker to seduce his brother-in-law and sending the tape to his own sister, so perhaps family loyalty isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Trump pardoned him anyway in 2020.

“When you’re a star, they let you do anything,” as Trump said on the Access Hollywood tape. The Lebanese billionaire Massad Boulos, father-in-law of Trump’s daughter Tiffany, has just been tapped as special adviser to the Middle East. He’s “a highly respected leader in the business world, with extensive experience on the international scene,” Trump said delightedly.

Then there’s Trump’s daughter-in-law Lara, the wife of Eric and, until she stepped down this week, co-chair of the Republican National Committee, who may be rewarded with a plum Florida senate seat now that Marco Rubio has been nominated as secretary of state.

And let’s not forget Kimberly Guilfoyle, a former Fox News presenter who was appointed ambassador to Greece on Tuesday, at the very moment her ex-fiance, Don Jr, showed off his new lady love in public. King Edward XIII, later Duke of Windsor, had to be satisfied with exile as the Governor of the Bahamas when his romantic life became complicated.

As for Don Jr and younger brother Eric, they have been eyeing enviously the soon-to-be billionaire status of Ivanka’s husband Jared Kushner, thanks to the Saudi friends he made during the first Trump presidency.

A week after the 2024 election, Don Jr joined the venture capital firm 1789 Capital, owned by a clutch of prominent Trump donors. This week Eric, vice-president of the Trump Organisation, announced the erection of Trump Tower in Jeddah.

Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi prince, knows how to deal with troublesome relations. He imprisoned dozens of his royal cousins in the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Riyadh until they submitted to his rule. Absolute rulers want everybody to bend the knee to them.

There is a warning in this for Prince Harry. He can’t rely on favourable treatment from Trump just because he is the Queen’s grandson. Harry and Meghan are considered too “woke” for Trump supporters. The right-wing think-tank, the Heritage Foundation, has been fighting a legal battle to reveal whether Harry received privileged immigration status, given that he admitted to taking drugs in his memoir, Spare.

Trump said last month he would take “appropriate action” if it emerged Harry lied on his visa application. More likely, it will turn out that he has diplomatic status, but his files will soon be laid open to the new administration.

Sarah Baxter is director of the Marie Colvin Center for International Reporting