Trump pays tribute to Sean Connery with story about his Scottish golf course

Mr Trump tweeted, that ‘the legendary actor, 007 Sean Connery, has past (sic) on to even greener fairways’

Donald Trump paid tribute to Sir Sean Connery following his passing and claimed that the late Bond star intervened in his favour when he was trying to build a golf resort in Scotland.

The president tweeted on Sunday that Sir Sean got involved over an unspecified Trump Organisation development in the actor’s homeland.

Mr Trump tweeted: “The legendary actor, 007 Sean Connery, has past (sic) on to even greener fairways. He was quite a guy, and a tough character. I was having a very hard time getting approvals for a big development in Scotland when Sean stepped in and shouted, ‘Let him build the damn thing’.

“That was all I needed, everything went swimmingly from there. He was so highly regarded & respected in Scotland and beyond that years of future turmoil was avoided. Sean was a great actor and an even greater man. Sincere condolences to his family!”

Mr Trump, whose mother Mary was originally from Scotland, faced opposition to building his Trump International Golf Links on the Aberdeenshire coastline.

Plans for the development were initially rejected, before a Scottish National Party-run government inquiry led to its approval in 2008.

The president’s resort on the Menie estate has been dogged by controversy since it opened in 2012.

Mr Trump had promised to turn the land into “the world’s best golf course”, worthy of hosting events such as The Open Championship.

However, its construction has been blamed for “partially destroying” 4,000-year-old sand dunes that are a site of specific interest (SSSI).

The dunes were expected to lose their SSSI status because of the damage to the site and permanent habitat loss.

The Trump Organisation also owns the Turnberry golf resort on the Firth of Clyde in Ayrshire.

It is unclear what development Mr Trump is referring to in his claim that Sir Sean helped with the approval of planning applications.

But Sir Sean spoke of the Aberdeenshire golf resort at an event in 2008.

The James Bond actor told the audience at the launch of his memoirs that he had met Mr Trump in New York in shortly after proposals for the development were announced and found them “terrific”.

Sir Sean went on: “But I had no idea what local repercussions would be.

“My first response was I couldn’t see anything but benefits for that part of Scotland because it's pretty neglected, apart from the oil fields.” 

Proud Scot Sir Sean, who died on 31 October, was a keen golfer and was the first member at Trump International Golf Links, Scotland.

Mr Trump said in 2011 that he had wanted the Bahamas-residing Scottish nationalist to open the resort, alongside the then-first minister Alex Salmond.