Donald Trump has spoken warmly of Prince William following their private meeting in Paris late last year, saying the Prince of Wales made a strong impression on him.

The pair met shortly after the reopening of Notre-Dame Cathedral, which had been devastated by a fire in 2019 and has since been restored. At the time, King Charles III had stepped back from many public duties while undergoing cancer treatment, with Prince William taking on a more prominent role.

“He looked really very handsome”

Speaking to the New York Post, the former U.S. president revealed that their discussion lasted more than half an hour and covered topics including family and the King’s health.

“He looked really very handsome last night,” Trump said. “Some people look better in person. He looked great. He looked really nice, and I told him that.

“And I asked him about his wife and he said she’s doing well. 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.

“We had a great talk for half an hour, a little more than half an hour. We had a great, great talk.”

Trump’s complimentary remarks come as he continues to maintain that he enjoyed positive relationships with senior members of the British royal family.

Trump on the late Queen and King Charles

The 78-year-old Republican has previously claimed that Queen Elizabeth II held him in particularly high regard, once stating: “Many people have said I was her favourite president.”

According to Metro, Trump also recently conveyed his best wishes to King Charles during a call with British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer. A Downing Street spokesperson confirmed: “The Prime Minister spoke to President Trump this evening. The president opened by wishing His Majesty the King best wishes and good health.”

Trump’s views on Prince Harry

Earlier this year, Trump turned his attention to another royal—Prince Harry. After a U.S. think tank argued that Harry’s American visa should not have been granted due to his admissions of drug use in his memoir Spare, calls grew for the Duke of Sussex to be deported.

Trump, however, dismissed the idea, telling the New York Post: “I don’t want to do that. I’ll leave him alone. He’s got enough problems with his wife. She’s terrible.”