- Trump was "obsessed" with making a state visit to England and meeting
Queen Elizabeth II , a new book says. - He was "slightly awestruck" by the queen and viewed meeting her as the "ultimate sign that he, Trump, had made it in life,"
Fiona Hill wrote. - A Trump biographer said the same in 2019, telling NYT that Trump's "dying thoughts" will be about meeting the queen.
Former President
Trump was also fixated on meeting Queen Elizabeth II, Hill wrote in "There Is Nothing For You Here: Finding Opportunity in the 21st Century."
"Going to Buckingham Palace was supposed to be a highlight of his presidency," the book said. "Meeting Queen Elizabeth II was particularly important to President Trump. He often referred in conversation to his mother, Mary Anne Mac-Leod, who was originally from Scotland, and her admiration for Queen Elizabeth."
Hill went on to say that Trump was also "clearly" an admirer of the queen and that he was "always slightly awestruck when he talked about her-his voice and his face would soften. A meeting with the Queen of England was the ultimate sign that he, Trump, had made it in life."
Hill wrote in her book that Trump became obsessed with making a state visit to the UK after then-British Prime Minister Theresa May visited the White House in January 2017 and invited him for a state visit. But Trump grew increasingly frustrated when British officials kept delaying the visit and didn't extend a formal invitation.
Trump then started dropping hints in "every encounter" he had with May or other British officials after January 2017.
"In the middle of a meeting or in an obvious tangent at the end, he would, apropos of nothing in particular, suddenly talk about his desire to golf once more at Turnberry," Hill wrote. "May and her colleagues would pretend not to understand the conversational thrust and change the subject."
Trump's fascination with the royal family and his desire to be seen as their equal has been long documented.
"This is more important than any piece of legislation he could get through Congress, greater than resolving problems at the border with Mexico," Michael D'Antonio, the author of "The Truth About Trump," told The New York Times in 2019. "I would think one of his dying thoughts will be of this. When he is about to leave this earth, he will think, 'I was that person, standing with the queen.'"
D'Antonio added that even though Trump doesn't view most people as being worthy of respect, "the queen may be one of the only people on Earth who could expect he was going to be respectful." He is "as sincere as he can be about anything with this respect."
Hill wrote in her book that Trump also viewed major political events in the UK through a personal lens. In one instance, she wrote that after Trump publicly expressed support for Brexit in 2016, "a European leader suggested to him that Brexit could lead to Scottish independence and the breakup of the UK."
"President Trump was taken aback," Hill wrote. "He immediately thought about the implications for his golf courses [in Scotland] - how could you have the British Open if there was no more Great Britain? What a disaster."
Trump and then-first lady Melania Trump hobnobbed with the queen and other members of the royal family several times throughout his presidency.
But the interactions drew criticism when it was pointed out that Trump appeared to have broken royal protocol. In July 2018, during an hourlong visit to Windsor Castle, Trump briefly walked in front of the queen - a royal taboo - while they inspected her honor guard.
In 2019, both Trumps appeared to break royal protocol when they chose to shake hands with members of the royal family instead of curtsying and bowing.