Trump could meet King in Scotland to plan state visit

US president Donald Trump has been invited to meet King Charles in Scotland to discuss an unprecedented second state visit to the UK.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer used a trip to the White House on Thursday to present the president with an official letter from the monarch offering a meeting at either Dumfries House or Balmoral Castle to discuss the logistics.

A meeting in Scotland would be Trump's first return to the country, where he has family and business connections, since 2023.

The Scottish government said First Minister John Swinney, who endorsed rival Kamala Harris in last year's election, would work to "strengthen" ties between the two countries.

Trump was hosted by the late Queen Elizabeth for a three-day state visit during his first presidential term in 2019.

Second-term US presidents are traditionally not offered state visits and have instead been invited for tea or lunch with the monarch, usually at Windsor Castle.

But King Charles' letter proposed a meeting in Scotland, where Trump owns two golf courses, to discuss arrangements for a second state visit.

The letter suggested meeting at either Dumfries House in Ayrshire, which the King has owned since 2007, or Balmoral Castle in Aberdeenshire.

Trump appeared taken aback by the letter, but after taking a minute to read it he said he accepted the invite and that it would be an "honour" to visit the "fantastic" country.

John Swinney has previously said he would use Trump's affinity for Scotland in a bid to avoid tariffs being applied on imports to the US, particularly on Scotch whisky.

Swinney had publicly backed Harris, the Democratic nominee, in the run up to the 2024 presidential election.

But he had a phone conversation with the new president in December and said afterwards Trump had been keen to "express his enthusiasm for Scotland".

A Scottish government spokesperson: said: "The first minister will continue to ensure Scotland has a constructive relationship with the United States and will do all he can to strengthen the social, cultural, and economic ties between the two countries."

The prime minister said it was a "privilege and an honour" to deliver the King's letter to Trump, adding he "looked forward to welcoming" the president to the UK.

Meanwhile the Scottish Greens have said Donald Trump is not welcome in Scotland, with co-leader Patrick Harvie forecasting "protests and a great deal of anger" around the visit.

Harvie said Trump was a "dangerous, misogynistic, racist climate-change denier".

He told BBC Scotland's Lunchtime Live programme: "Rolling out the red carpet in this way and showing this cringe-worthy deference is just sickening.

"It's just a few days since John Swinney said to all political parties and to civil society leaders in Scotland that he wanted to bring us together for a summit to unite against the far right. I don't think he can do that on one day and shake Donald Trump's hand the next."

Few US presidents have travelled to Scotland during their presidency.

Joe Biden was the last to visit in 2021 for the COP26 climate summit while George W Bush went to Gleneagles in 2005 for the annual G8 summit.

Dwight D Eisenhower spent time at Balmoral a number of times though only once as president in 1959.

He also spent a few days resting at Culzean Castle before returning home - which he described as his "Scottish White House".

Balmoral is only about 58 miles (93km) from the Trump International golf resort in Menie, where the president is due to open a new course named after his mother this summer.

Mary Anne MacLeod was born and brought up on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides but emigrated to New York in 1930, where she met and married Trump's father, Frederick.

Trump opened his first golf resort in Aberdeenshire in 2012 amid a wave of controversy and opposition due to potential environmental damage.

He had bought the site at Menie in 2006 with promises of thousands of jobs and £1bn worth of investment in the area.

Scottish ministers controversially granted planning permission for the course, overriding local councillors who denied the application.

But it ran into considerable opposition, not least from those who live nearby after Trump repeatedly demanded they move so the project could be completed.

Trump accused local farmer and salmon fisherman Michael Forbes of living in a "pig like atmosphere".

The countryside agency NatureScot said after construction that sand dunes in the area no longer merited being retained as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).

Questions have also been raised over the promised investment after it emerged the course had racked up £13.3m in losses since it opened, as of March 2024.

The original proposal included approval for a 450-room hotel, 950 holiday apartments, 36 golf villas and 500 houses.

None of those have materialised, and the course had an employee roll of just 81 as of March last year.

In 2014, Trump bought the Turnberry estate in Ayrshire from a Dubai-based leisure group, renaming it Trump Turnberry.

He later handed over the reins of his golf business to his son Eric, shortly before his first term as president in 2017.

That came a year after one of Trump's most infamous visits to Scotland, when he was met by comedian Janey Godley holding a placard bearing an offensive word in protest at his arrival.

In 2018, a paraglider flew over the course while the president was visiting, displaying a banner which read: "Trump; well below par".

On his last visit in 2023, Trump said it was "great to be home".

We had broadly expected to see Donald Trump pop up in Scotland at some point. The president owns two golf courses here, and his mother famously hails from the Isle of Lewis.

But his trip has taken on a whole different level of pomp now, with the prime minister hand-delivering an invitation from the King to visit a royal estate.

It was part of a charm offensive - which included the gift of a golf cap in Trump's family tartan - which seems to have paid off for Sir Keir Starmer, at least in the form of warm words.

The invite was calculated to play to the president's ego - Mr Trump always loves the idea of being the first in history to get something, and Sir Keir repeatedly underlined that this is the first time a president has been offered a second state visit rather than a lunch at Windsor Castle.

The prime minister has to break bread with the US president regardless of how well their views and values might mesh, and that attitude is mirrored by First Minister John Swinney.

He may have backed Mr Trump's rival Kamala Harris during the election, but he took a call from the president-elect following his win.

And he's hinted that he could try to use Mr Trump's roots to try to avoid the prospect of tariffs being imposed on Scottish goods being imported to the US - which after all is a big market for things like whisky.