 "What is Donald Trump's connection to Scotland? His mum, golf and more")
United States President Donald Trump will land in Scotland on Friday (July 25, 2025), marking his first visit to the United Kingdom since securing a second term in office.
Officially designated a private trip by the White House, the president’s itinerary includes stops at his two flagship golf resorts — Trump International Golf Links near Aberdeen and the Turnberry estate in South Ayrshire.
Despite its private nature, the visit reportedly includes scheduled meetings with UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Scotland’s First Minister John Swinney.
Trump is expected to return for an official state visit to the UK in September.
Preparations for his arrival have triggered logistical challenges and security concerns. Police Scotland, anticipating demonstrations similar to those during his previous visits, has requested backup from other UK law enforcement agencies.
Large-scale protests were seen during Trump’s 2018 tour, when thousands marched in Scottish cities, including Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Glasgow.
On that occasion, protestors booed as he played golf at Turnberry, and a paraglider flew over the resort with an anti-Trump banner. Organisers of the group Stop Trump Scotland have called for renewed demonstrations during this year’s visit.
The structure of this visit allows Trump to freely choose his engagements, with his primary focus being his business interests in Scottish golf — a sector he has repeatedly highlighted as both legacy and enterprise.
The US president’s mother: Mary Anne MacLeod Trump
Donald Trump’s ancestral roots lie in the Outer Hebrides, a rugged chain of islands off the northwest coast of Scotland.
His mother, Mary Anne MacLeod, was born in 1912 in the village of Tong, located just three miles from Stornoway, the Isle of Lewis’s main town.
She was the youngest of ten children in a Gaelic-speaking family. Her father, Malcolm MacLeod, managed a post office and a general store in Tong, offering the family modest stability during difficult times.
Although they were slightly more affluent than some local households, life on the island during and after World War I was marked by scarcity and tragedy.
Lewis had suffered grievous losses in the conflict, including the Iolaire disaster of 1919, in which approximately 200 servicemen returning from war perished in the harbour at Stornoway.
Amid post-war hardship and limited economic opportunity, many islanders sought new lives abroad. Mary Anne joined that wave of migration in 1930 at age 18, leaving with her sister Catherine, who had already emigrated and returned to visit.
Upon reaching New York, Mary Anne initially found work as a nanny in an affluent household but lost the job as the US economy collapsed following the Wall Street Crash.
She briefly returned to Scotland in 1934 but soon went back to the US, having met and begun a relationship with Fred Trump, a successful real estate developer and the son of German immigrants.
They married in 1936, settled in Queens, New York, and Mary Anne became a US citizen in 1942. She passed away in August 2000 at the age of 88.
Donald Trump is the fourth of their five children.
Though he was raised in New York, his mother’s homeland remained close to him. “My mother was born in Scotland — Stornoway, which is serious Scotland,” he said in 2017.
Mary Anne maintained strong ties to her birthplace, regularly visiting Lewis throughout her life.
According to BBC, she remained fluent in Gaelic and was well-regarded in her hometown community. During visits, she attended the local church and maintained connections with her extended family.
To this day, three of Donald Trump’s cousins continue to live on Lewis, including two who now reside in the house where Mary Anne was born.
The original structure has since been rebuilt, but the familial bond remains. These relatives have consistently declined all media interviews and have stayed out of the public eye.
Trump himself has made only two known visits to his mother’s home village. In 2008, he visited the family home in Tong as an adult and said he had also visited once as a small child, though he remembered little.
His 2008 stopover was brief — he reportedly spent just 97 seconds in the ancestral house.
Are Trump’s Scottish golf ventures about legacy?
Trump’s commercial footprint in Scotland centres around two major properties: Trump International Golf Links in Aberdeenshire and Trump Turnberry in South Ayrshire.
The Aberdeenshire venture began in 2006 when Trump acquired a coastal tract north of Aberdeen with the aim of developing a world-class golf destination.
The project faced strong local resistance from conservationists and residents concerned about the ecological impact.
The site included sand dunes that were home to rare wildlife such as badgers, otters, kittiwakes and skylarks. The controversy attracted global attention.
Michael Forbes, a local fisherman, became a symbol of resistance after he refused to sell his land to Trump, despite a lucrative offer of £350,000. Trump was publicly critical of Forbes’s property, describing it as “a slum and a pigsty,” reported AP.
Despite the opposition, the Scottish government backed the plan, and the Trump International Golf Links officially opened in 2012.
Nevertheless, some of the project’s most ambitious elements — including plans for 500 homes and a 450-room hotel — have not materialised. Financially, the resort has struggled.
In 2023, the latest available accounts reported a loss of £1.4 million.
“If it weren’t for my mother, would I have walked away from this site? I think probably I would have, yes,” Trump remarked during the development phase.
“Possibly, had my mother not been born in Scotland, I probably wouldn’t have started it.”
This year, a second 18-hole course at the site is set to open.
Named the MacLeod Course in tribute to Mary Anne, the launch is expected to coincide with Trump’s visit. The adjacent hotel is also named after her — the Trump MacLeod House and Lodge Hotel.
Turnberry, Trump’s other high-profile property, is a much older and more established venue. He purchased the resort, including its three coastal golf courses and a five-star hotel, in 2014 for approximately £40 million.
Turnberry is widely known for hosting The Open Championship, though the tournament has not returned to the course since 2009.
Local sentiment in Ayrshire has been more favourable compared to the Aberdeenshire project. “He did bring employment to the area,” Louise Robertson, a Turnberry-area resident told AP.
“I know that in terms of the hotel and the lighthouse, he spent a lot of money restoring it, so again, that was welcomed by the local people. But other than that, I can’t really say positive things about it.”
Trump has pushed for The Open to return to Turnberry. However, the tournament’s organisers have cited ongoing issues related to transportation and accommodation infrastructure as obstacles.
How Trump’s political ties with Scotland have evolved
Trump’s relationship with Scottish officials has evolved over the years — from honourary recognition to outright rejection. More than a decade ago, he was named a business ambassador in the GlobalScot network.
However, that status was revoked in 2015 following his controversial comments about banning Muslims from entering the United States. Around the same time, Robert Gordon University withdrew an honourary doctorate it had awarded him in 2010.
In the next few days, Trump is set to meet with John Swinney, Scotland’s First Minister, who had supported Kamala Harris during the previous US election cycle.
A spokesperson for Trump’s business interests in Scotland called Swinney’s earlier endorsement “an insult.” Nonetheless, Swinney has confirmed the meeting, saying it serves “Scotland’s interest.”
Trump will also confer with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, with whom he reportedly enjoys a constructive rapport.
Despite ideological differences, Trump recently said, “I really like the prime minister a lot, even though he’s a liberal.” Trade discussions are expected to include a focus on securing exemptions for UK steel from American tariffs.
There is no confirmation as to whether Trump and Starmer will visit either golf course together. Starmer is not known to be a golfer.
Ironically, Trump’s Scottish story is one of immigration.
With inputs from agencies
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