President Trump was more than 7,400 miles from Palm Beach, Fla., but he looked right at home.
With its giant crystal chandeliers, polished marble, plush carpets and prominently displayed portraits of King Salman bin Abdulaziz, the Saudi Royal Court had the feel of a Mar-a-Lago East.
On Tuesday, the first day of the president’s four-day Middle East swing, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, gave Mr. Trump the royal treatment.
Mr. Trump was escorted through Saudi airspace by three F-15 fighter jets flanking each side of Air Force One. The presidential limousine was accompanied to the Royal Court in Riyadh, the Saudi capital, by riders on Arabian horses. Musical horns blasted. An honor guard stood at attention as Prince Mohammed guided Mr. Trump into the court along a long, lavender carpet.
The president couldn’t stop smiling, and understandably so. The Saudi royals are his friends and allies. They are his family’s business partners. More than most, they understand his tastes and desires.
“I really believe we like each other a lot,” Mr. Trump said, as he sat beside the crown prince inside the king’s executive office.
As he strolled with Prince Mohammed through the Royal Court, the president appeared impressed by his surroundings. Gold leaf was everywhere: the moldings and the tables and the legs of the blue velvet armchairs were all gilded.
Mr. Trump, who has likened the United States to a “super luxury store,” has been installing similar gold décor throughout the Oval Office. He plans to install a ballroom in the White House and has ordered the renovation of the Rose Garden, turning it into an alfresco dining area like the patio at Mar-a-Lago, his home and club in Palm Beach.
After lunch at the Royal Court, Mr. Trump spoke at the Saudi-U.S. Investment Forum, in a ballroom where the Saudi government hosts its grandest events, beneath chandeliers the size of tanks.
Defense contractors, international financiers and construction executives milled around, trying on virtual reality goggles and gawking at architectural models of the kingdom’s planned megaprojects, including “The Line,” a 100-mile-long skyscraper with a mirrored facade, and “Trojena” a ski town that officials intend to carve into the barren mountains of the country’s northwest.
A handful of MAGA hats could be spotted between the traditional red and white-checkered headdresses worn by Saudi attendees.
Mr. Trump was given a tour of what his Saudi hosts called the “gallery of memories,” which told a story of “nearly eight decades of Saudi-American partnership.”
He was then shown a desk given in 1950 to Saudi Arabia’s founding king, Abdulaziz Al Saud, by President Harry S. Truman. Saudi officials invoked the 1945 meeting between the king and President Franklin D. Roosevelt, which was described as a defining encounter “that laid the foundation for a lasting diplomatic relationship between the two nations.”
Mr. Trump and Prince Mohammed were then escorted to the stage while dramatic music played. After the crown prince spoke, Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the U.S.A.” played for several minutes, while Mr. Trump listened with approval, singing along with the last line.
The long day of royal treatment for Mr. Trump began from the moment he stepped off Air Force One at the Royal Terminal, a special section for V.I.P.s at King Khalid International Airport.
Prince Mohammed greeted the president at the airport, signifying the special status Mr. Trump enjoys with Saudi Arabia. When President Biden visited in 2022 — after saying he would make the kingdom a “pariah,” and then realizing he needed its help to lower oil prices — the crown prince sent the governor of Mecca to greet him at the airport.
After sunset, Prince Mohammed appealed to the president’s passion for real estate by taking him on a tour of a major development on the land where his ancestors once lived.
Diriyah, a historic town above Wadi Hanifah, a river valley on the outskirts of Riyadh, was the original seat of power of the Saudi royal family, 300 years ago. Today a UNESCO site, the town, with its mud-brick walls, is being restored. Prince Mohammed wants to turn it into a magnet for tourism by building a $60 billion commercial and residential project connected to Riyadh by underground transport.
After showing Mr. Trump his scale model for the site, Prince Mohammed took the steering wheel of a golf cart and drove the president to the state dinner.
Mr. Trump is staying the first night of his four-day trip at the Ritz-Carlton Riyadh, an imposing hotel set on 52 acres of landscaped gardens. The Riyadh Ritz is the same hotel where Mr. Trump stayed during his first presidential visit eight years ago, and where President Barack Obama stayed in 2014.
But the hotel is better known as Prince Mohammed’s five-star prison. In 2017, he used the Ritz-Carlton to detain opponents, including government ministers, businessmen and members of his own royal family.
The crown prince was carrying out what he described as a corruption crackdown. Others viewed it as a consolidation of power and an omen for his future reign.
