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President Donald Trump is set to visit the UK this summer but has no plans to meet King Charles during the “semi-private” trip, in what is likely to nonetheless require a huge security operation, according to multiple people.
The president is due to travel to Scotland, where he has several golf courses, in the coming weeks.
“He was always hoping to come semi-privately” this summer, said one person with knowledge of the plans, who added that there was “no proposal to see the King” during the visit. A second person confirmed these details.
People close to Buckingham Palace said that a private meeting between Trump and the King would not be possible in the summer months because of the “complexities of both principals’ diaries”.
The president has been offered a second state visit to the UK, which will take place in September.
Assistant chief constable Emma Bond from Police Scotland said planning “is under way for a potential visit to Scotland later this month by the president of the United States”.
She added: “While official confirmation has not yet been made, it is important that we prepare in advance for what would be a significant policing operation.”
Last year, Eric Trump said his father would attend the opening of his new 18-hole course in Aberdeenshire, which is set to be named after the president’s mother. A website for the new site states that the course is due to open on August 13.
Trump International Scotland and the White House declined to comment. Eric Trump, an executive vice-president of the Trump Organization, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
When UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer travelled to the US in February, he took a letter with him from the King, inviting Trump to meet him at either Dumfries House in Ayrshire or Balmoral Castle, in Scotland, to make preparations for a state visit to the UK later in the year.
Trump is expanding his existing site near Aberdeen with the new course, described on the site’s website as the “greatest 36 holes in golf”.
Trump’s visits to Scotland have sparked widespread protest in the past, including when nearly 10,000 people took to the streets in 2018.
Although a £5mn security operation was in place to keep protesters away from the presidential entourage, a paraglider evaded police snipers and flew in front of the hotel, towing a banner that read ‘Trump: well below par #resist’.”
In March, activist group Palestine Action daubed red paint on a clubhouse and dug up greens at Trump Turnberry in south-west Scotland, saying they intended to show the president that his properties were “within reach”. Trump labelled the protesters as “terrorists” and said he hoped the perpetrators would be treated harshly.
The UK earlier this month designated Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation after some of its members broke into an air force base and sprayed red paint on refuelling jets that they claimed were being used to support Israeli operations in Gaza.
UK officials have been exploring how Turnberry could once again host The Open golf championship in response to pressure from the president.
Additional reporting by James Politi and Alex Rogers in Washington
