US President Donald Trump is set to visit the UK on a state visit next year, it has been confirmed.
Prime Minister Theresa May initially invited the 45th president of America seven days after his inauguration on January 20 this year.
The Prime Minister was criticised in some quarters at the time for being the first foreign leader to visit him at the White House, where she extended an invitation from the Queen.
Speculation had mounted recently that President Trump might visit the UK in a relatively low-key, non-state visit this month, during the G20 summit in Hamburg.
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However, the Guardian reports that the leader is instead set to make his trip in 2018.
German chancellor Angela Merkel and American President Donald Trump (Credit: PA)
President Trump owns a number of golf courses in Scotland and it was believed he had intended to visit Turnberry, one of his courses, which would have likely prompted the Prime Minister to travel north to meet him.
President Trump, PM May and other world leaders have been meeting in Hamburg to discuss various pressing world affairs, from climate change to international terrorism.
The G20 summit ended last Saturday amid protests and clashes with police.
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The G20 summit was met by violent protests (Credit: PA)
Credit: PA
President Trump's invitation was never withdrawn despite much negative press, including criticism from public figures such as London Mayor, Sadiq Khan.
There were many petitions in the aftermath of President Trump's original invite, with one garnering almost two million signatures, while some were surprised at the speed of his invitation. His predecessor, Barack Obama, didn't visit the UK for two-and-a-half years.
In the likely event that President Trump's trip will go ahead next year, security, which is always tight for a state-visit from a head of a foreign government, will most probably be at an extremely high level.
However, President Trump's visit wouldn't be the first to raise controversy as 2015's state visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping was met with heavy protests from human rights activists.
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President Donald Trump meets Chinese President Xi Jinping (Credit: PA)
Tens of thousands of people took to the streets in protest when George W. Bush visited the UK, largely due to the Iraq War which was happening at the time, while Emperor Akihito of Japan was greeted by angry WW2 veterans when he visited in 1998. They symbolically turned their backs to him as he passed by in a carriage with the Queen.
Source: The Guardian
Words: Ronan O'Shea