Mary Anne MacLeod Trump: What do we know about Donald's Scottish mother?

US President Donald Trump has made frequent reference to his British ancestry, reportedly telling Prime Minister Theresa May that his Scottish mother was a "big fan" of the Queen.

He also referred to Mary Anne MacLeod Trump as "incredible" and "smart as hell" in his 1997 book The Art of the Comeback.

So what do we know about the woman who raised the 45th President of the United States?

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Born in 1912, Trump's mother grew up in the Gaelic-speaking village of Tong, on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides. She was the youngest of ten children born to Malcolm MacLeod, a fisherman and tenant farmer, and his wife Mary.

In 1930, aged 17, MacLeod Trump said goodbye to her poverty-stricken native island and headed to New York, moving in with her sister, Katie, who had started a new life in the US after giving birth to an illegitimate child in Scotland.

The family's version of events says that Trump's mother was introduced to her future husband Fred at a party while on holiday.

In reality, however, "the lady who became a multi-millionaire philanthropist started life in America as a dirt-poor servant", says The National.

Ship documents from both her original voyage in 1930 and a trip home to Scotland in 1934 have her occupation as a "domestic".

How exactly she crossed paths with Fred Trump, a former carpenter who was already becoming a successful property developer, may forever remain a mystery, but the two were married in 1936 and MacLeod Trump's status quickly went up in the world.

By 1940, Trump's parents were living with their two children and a Scottish maid in relative comfort in Queens. It was the post-war real estate boom that turned them into millionaires and as the family empire expanded, the couple enjoyed an increasingly lavish lifestyle.

Keen to share her good fortune, MacLeod Trump became known for her philanthropic activities. Following her death in 2000, aged 88, the New York Times called her a "mainstay" of charitable organisations such as the Women's Auxiliary of Jamaica Hospital, the Salvation Army and the Boy Scouts of America.

She also raised five children: Maryanne; Frederick Jr; Elizabeth; Donald, and Robert. The three boys all went into the family business, although Frederick Jr fell into alcoholism and died aged 43, while Elizabeth worked in banking. Maryanne is still a respected federal judge.

Their mother became a US citizen in 1942, but never forgot her roots on the Isle of Lewis and returned to her homeland many times - with her son Donald accompanying her on at least one occasion, although the US President says he was too young to recall the visit.