What happened to the third chair at Trump and Zelensky’s Vatican meeting?

Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky sitting opposite one another at the Vatican was one of the most striking images from the Pope’s funeral this weekend.

But intriguingly, it seems the meeting was originally intended to look different.

Footage of the two leaders approaching the simple red chairs shows that there were originally three chairs together — before one was hastily removed just as they came to sit down.

Moments before, Trump had a somewhat awkward encounter with French president Emmanuel Macron.

Many watching the video thought it looked as though Trump was snubbed when he appeared to reach out for a handshake, but his French counterpart wafted his hand through the air instead.

It came after Macron warmly embraced Ukrainian president Zelensky, who is now in his fouth year of defending against a fullscale Russian invasion.

Exactly who the third chair was intended for or why they did not take it is not clear, but in the end Vatican officials dressed in black robes escorted only Trump and Zelensky to sit opposite one another in St Peter’s Basilica.

Images of the two leaders sitting face-to-face were taken as a symbolic win, so it may be that a last minute decision was taken to remove the third chair for this reason.

A lip reader who analysed the interaction took another view, telling The Sun that Trump appeared to have given a ‘warning’ to Macron, saying: ‘You are not in the right here, I need you to do me a favour, you should not be here.’

The meeting appears to have been a success for Ukraine, as immediately following it, Trump issued some of his strongest words against Putin.

The president wrote on Truth Social: ‘There was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days.

‘It makes me think that maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war, he’s just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through “Banking” or “Secondary Sanctions?”

‘Too many people are dying!!!’

Macron was seen shaking hands with Trump on another occasion later at the funeral of Pope Francis.

He also later shared a photo of him standing alongside Trump, Zelensky and Keir Starmer, captioned ‘Pour la paix’ (for peace).

Relationships between European leaders and Mr Trump have been turbulent since the US president took power again in January.

Their approach to Ukraine has been at odds, with the US pushing for Ukraine to cede Crimea to Russia, as well as more swathes of occupied land, as part of a peace deal.

Zelensky has rejected this, saying that Crimea had been recognised as part of an independent Ukraine for 23 years before the annexation, so accepting it as Russian territory would ‘violate’ his country’s constitution.

He has called for Russian president Vladimir Putin to instead accept an unconditional end to the fighting.

Following the funeral ceremony’s end, the Ukrainian leader said his face-to-face encounter with Mr Trump had been a ‘good meeting’.

It comes after a disastrous press conference from his perspective at the White House, when Vice President JD Vance haranged him over apparently not saying ‘thank you’ for US support.

In a post on social media site X, Zelensky added: ‘We discussed a lot one on one. Hoping for results on everything we covered.

‘Protecting lives of our people. Full and unconditional ceasefire. Reliable and lasting peace that will prevent another war from breaking out.

‘Very symbolic meeting that has potential to become historic, if we achieve joint results.’

Mr Zelensky’s spokesperson, Serhii Nykyforov, said the meeting lasted around 15 minutes.

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