2 days ago
Trump plans memorial to his mother on new Scottish golf course
Donald Trump is creating a memorial garden to his Scottish mother on the site of his new golf course in Aberdeenshire.
The main feature of the garden will be a tribute carved in stone imported from Mary Anne Trump's birthplace, the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides.
The announcement of Mr Trump's tribute to his mother came as Trump International Scotland unveiled the layout for a new course alongside the existing links course on his Menie estate. It is set to formally open this summer.
Known officially as the Old and the New, the courses will combine to create what the company describes as ' the greatest 36 holes in golf' on the Aberdeenshire coast.
The US president's mother was born Mary Anne MacLeod on Lewis, but emigrated to New York in 1930 when she was 18.
She was one of tens of thousands of Scots who travelled to the US and Canada in the early years of the last century looking to escape economic hardship at home.
She was hired as a domestic servant at the Carnegie Mansion on New York's Fifth Avenue and six years later married Frederick Trump, the successful property developer son of German migrants, and one of the most eligible men in New York.
The US president was the fourth of the couple's five children.
Mr Trump has spoken fondly of his mother, who died in 2000, aged 88. He said in an interview last year: 'The Scottish very great people, they're tough people. They're good fighters. [My mother] was funny, she had a great sense of humour.'
Sarah Malone, the executive vice-president of Trump International, said: 'With the New course opening now fast approaching, we are delighted to share the final layout of this extraordinary links and the completion of The Greatest 36 Holes.
'It has been a phenomenal journey to create two truly exceptional world-class championship golf courses, across this magnificent stretch of North Sea coastline.
'The Trump family has a deep affection for Scotland, not only as the home of golf, but as the ancestral home of President Trump's beloved mother, Mary Anne MacLeod.'
The plans for the second course were approved in 2019 alongside proposals for 550 new homes, shops, offices and restaurants.
Planners received 2,921 valid representations from the public about the plan, 2,918 of which were objections and just 3 supported the Trump Organisation application.
But despite the significant local opposition, Aberdeenshire council approved the £150 million plan.
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