Donald Trump Demanded and Got Front Row Seat at Pope Francis' Funeral Or Else He Wouldn't Attend the Ceremony
Donald Trump demanded to be sat in the front row of Pope Francis' funeral.
April 26 2025, Published 12:45 p.m. ET
President Donald Trump secured his highly coveted front-row seat at Pope Francis' funeral by making it a condition of his attendance, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
A diplomatic source claimed: "He made it very clear before he even agreed to travel: front row or no show. If they had said no, he wasn't coming. Period."
Donald Trump was sat in the front row.
Insiders claimed the leader of the U.S. "strong-armed" the Vatican into making an exception to their alphabetized seating arrangement.
One official claimed: "They knew he would turn it into an international incident if he wasn't treated like a king. They decided it was better to just give him what he wanted and avoid a spectacle."
The seating stunt, however, hasn't gone unnoticed inside Vatican circles.
Another senior source confessed: "It was humiliating.
"We bent the rules because we knew he'd make a scene. This wasn't about honoring the Pope – it was about feeding Trump's ego."
Donald Trump wore a blue suit and tie to the ceremony.
Pride of place at the top of the steps of St Peter's Basilica went to Argentina, Francis' native country, whose president, Javier Milei, sat in the front row.
Next came Italy, the nation surrounding the Vatican, which formally recognised its sovereignty in 1929. Italian dignitaries occupied the second-best seats, as Francis served as bishop of Rome and primate of the Catholic bishops of Italy.
The French alphabet dictated the rest of the seating, still regarded as the language of diplomacy. Guests from Allemagne (Germany) were among those near the front, and the États-Unis (United States) delegation ensured President Trump had a prominent seat, rather than being placed in the third row as some had expected.
Pope Francis died at 88.
President Trump has also been accused of breaking the dress code at the funeral after he arrived wearing a blue suit and a blue tie.
The strict dress code for the event at the Vatican stated that men should wear a dark suit with a long black tie and white shirt. Shoes, long socks, coats and umbrellas also had to be black. Almost every other attendee at the event wore black.
He sat in the front row of hundreds of foreign dignitaries and royalty and donned a mid-blue outfit adorned with a pin showing the American flag.
First Lady Melania Trump sat beside her husband, on her 55th birthday, and wore a conservative black coat with a lace veil and gloves.
Several world leaders gathered to attend Pope Francis' funeral.
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Prince William, representing the King for the first time at an international funeral, sat with fellow heir apparent Crown Prince Haakon of Norway and his wife, Crown Princess Mette-Marit.
Before the service, the U.K. prince briefly spoke to the president and first lady in the basilica and interacted with French president Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte.
