D-Day commemorations: Sombre Melania Trump holds Donald’s hand as she arrives in France

First Lady Melania Trump chose to wear a demure black coat and wide sunglasses for the commemorations. The black coat featured only a few details, including four large buttons which were fastened up down the front, with an open V-neck. Cutting off just above the knee, glimpses of a knee-length black dress could be spotted underneath. 

For the sombre occasion, Melania kept her neck bare and didn’t wear jewellery, but completed the look only with a pair of matching black stilettos.

The US President and Melania arrived at Caen-Carpiquet Airport in Carpiquet, Normandy, following a three-day state visit to the UK and a brief trip to Ireland.

Melania stepped out of the Air Force One to be welcomed by representatives of the French Government and the local mayor, Joël Bruneau.  

READ MORE: D-DAY 75 LIVE: ‘BRITS running onto GERMAN bullets to save FRANCE – Europe OWES those men’

But this was only the first stop in the country for the presidential couple, who then moved further north with the US state helicopter, the Marine One, to visit the iconic Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial and pay their respect to the thousands of American lives lost in their attempt to defeat Adolf Hitler and the Axis forces in 1944. 

Following a visit to the military cemetery, the largest of its kind in France, Melania and Mr Trump headed to the ceremony organised at Colleville-Sur-Mer, also attended by French President Emmanuel Macron.

The Trumps watched Mr Macron awarding the Legion d’Honneur, France’s highest award for merit, to five US veterans.

The two heads of state will later have a working lunch in nearby Caen. 

Earlier this morning, Mr Macron inaugurated with Prime Minister Theresa May a memorial to the 22,442 soldiers under British command who were killed in Normandy during the D-Day landings.

On that occasion, Mr Macron took the chance to highlight the ties between Paris and London, which he said are stronger than political discord – hinting that the two countries will still be linked even after Brexit.

He said: “Nothing will ever take away the links of spilt blood and shared values. The debates of the present in no way take away from the past.” 

During the event in Ver-Sur-Mer, Mr Macron and Mrs May also laid wreaths at the foundation stone for the new memorial, which overlooks Gold Beach.

Speaking at the service, Mrs May, who will step down as Prime Minister tomorrow, said: “It’s incredibly moving to be here today, looking out over the beaches where one of the greatest battles for freedom this world has ever known took place.

“And it is truly humbling to do so with the men who were there that day.

“If one day can be said to have determined the fate of generations to come in France, in Britain, in Europe and the world, that day was June 6 1944.”    

source: express.co.uk