--- title: Melania Ivanka Trump Veils: Meeting Pope Francis description: The First Lady and First Daughter both wore veils when they met Pope Francis, adhering to the dress code for private papal audiences. canonical: https://time.com/4792398/melania-ivanka-trump-veils-vatican-saudi-arabia/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-05-24T15:26:16.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:43:57.361Z article:section: Politics og:title: Why Melania and Ivanka Trump Covered Their Heads at the Vatican og:description: Vatican protocol. og:url: https://time.com/4792398/melania-ivanka-trump-veils-vatican-saudi-arabia/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta3da934fe7e77058/6988cea87cdbacaa73d58760/pope-francis-donald-trump-vatican-veils.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2405 og:image:height: 1353 og:image:alt: pope-francis-donald-trump-vatican-veils og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Why Melania and Ivanka Trump Covered Their Heads at the Vatican twitter:description: Vatican protocol. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta3da934fe7e77058/6988cea87cdbacaa73d58760/pope-francis-donald-trump-vatican-veils.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Why Melania and Ivanka Trump Covered Their Heads at the Vatican > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=144d1661-b8ad-4ee5-b748-be9570b1d9c6&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1)  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson May 24, 2017 3:26 PM UTC  Ivanka Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, and President Donald Trump stand with Pope Francis during a meeting at the Vatican on May 24, 2017. Ivanka Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, and President Donald Trump stand with Pope Francis during a meeting at the Vatican on May 24, 2017. Evan Vucci—AP  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson May 24, 2017 3:26 PM UTC The First Lady and First Daughter both [wore veils](http://time.com/4792096/melania-ivanka-trump-veil-pope-francis-vatican/) when they met Pope Francis, adhering to the dress code for private papal audiences at the Vatican and following a long tradition of First Ladies before them. “Per Vatican protocol, women who have an audience with the Pope are required to wear long sleeves, formal black clothing, and a veil to cover the head,” Stephanie Grisham, the First Lady’s communications director, [told CNN](http://edition.cnn.com/2017/05/24/politics/melania-trump-pope-francis-headscarf-fashion/).  Jacqueline Kennedy stands next to Pope John XXIII during an audience in the Pontiff's private library in the Vatican, Italy, March 11, 1962. Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone /Getty Images  President and Mrs. Clinton meet with Pope John Paul II at the Vatican Thursday June 2, 1994. Greg Gibson—AP [According to the _Telegraph_](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/fashion/people/melania-ivanka-trump-stuck-traditional-vatican-dress-codes-meeting/), women meeting the Pope have traditionally been required to wear black, long sleeves and a mantilla, the lace veil worn in the Roman Catholic Church. Certain Catholic queens and princesses are allowed to wear white. But Pope Francis has been easing up on the dress code: “Things have become more relaxed over the last few years there are no hard and fast rules,” a spokesperson for the Vatican told the Telegraph.  US President Barack Obama (L) and First Lady Michelle Obama meet with Pope Benedict XVI in his library at the Vatican on July 10, 2009. Vatican Pool/Getty Images Still, the Trump women didn’t take any fashion risks during their meeting. “To my eyes, what Mrs. \[Melania\] Trump wore was perfect. She was rather elegantly dressed, and totally in keeping with the event,” [said BBC’s David Willey](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-40030668). “The Trump party \[as a whole\] observed normal protocol and dress.” The protocol is more complicated for when First Ladies (and in this case, First Daughters) visit Saudi Arabia, as the Trumps did before Rome. There, Saudi women are required to cover their heads, but female foreign dignitaries are not, BBC reports. Neither Trump woman opted for a headscarf in the country, following in the footsteps of [Michelle Obama](https://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/30/us/politics/what-to-wear-michelle-obama-is-steeped-in-protocol.html?%5Fr=0), who also covered her head at the Vatican but not in Saudi Arabia. At the time, Donald Trump [criticized](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/560839957426999297?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc^tfw&ref%5Furl=http%3A%2F%2Ftime.com%2F4787178%2Fdonald-trump-saudi-arabia-melania-ivanka-headscarves%2F) her decision to eschew the headscarf. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4792398/melania-ivanka-trump-veils-vatican-saudi-arabia/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4792398/melania-ivanka-trump-veils-vatican-saudi-arabia/"},"headline":"Why Melania and Ivanka Trump Covered Their Heads at the Vatican","datePublished":"2017-05-24T15:26:16.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:43:57.361Z","description":"The First Lady and First Daughter both wore veils when they met Pope Francis, adhering to the dress code for private papal audiences.","url":"https://time.com/4792398/melania-ivanka-trump-veils-vatican-saudi-arabia/","keywords":["White House","Pope Francis","Vatican","Ivanka Trump","Melania Trump","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta3da934fe7e77058/6988cea87cdbacaa73d58760/pope-francis-donald-trump-vatican-veils.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta3da934fe7e77058/6988cea87cdbacaa73d58760/pope-francis-donald-trump-vatican-veils.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"pope-francis-donald-trump-vatican-veils","caption":"Ivanka Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, and President Donald Trump stand with Pope Francis during a meeting at the Vatican on May 24, 2017.","creditText":"Evan Vucci—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4792398/melania-ivanka-trump-veils-vatican-saudi-arabia/","name":"Why Melania and Ivanka Trump Covered Their Heads at the Vatican"}}]}] ```