On the most memorable occasion a motorcade passed through Royal Deeside and Aberdeen it was riding on waves of emotion and loving thoughts.
How can any of us ever forget that special shared sense of unity in mourning as tearful crowds of well-wishers lined the route.
Watching as a dignified motorised procession carrying the body of Queen Elizabeth II passed by on its journey south.
The solemn grandeur of the occasion – and the Deeside scenery which provided a stunning backdrop – captured the world’s attention.
I don’t expect this to be replicated in quite the same way if President Trump travels in the opposite direction to meet the King at Balmoral, or elsewhere in Scotland.
There is a strange irony about this.
A benevolent constitutional monarch in King Charles playing host to someone who looks to many like a dangerous and unpredictable foreign potentate.
Balmoral was offered to Trump as one of two Scottish royal residences to discuss the fine details ahead of his unprecedented second state visit to the UK.
Something similar to meeting with a wedding planner.
I’m not sure they’ll be choosing flowers for table decorations, but the wedding analogy isn’t that daft as Balmoral might turn out to be the place where tying the knot on a new relationship with Trump starts.
If it’s tea for two at Balmoral, we pray the King can work some magic.
With a frazzled world order why shouldn’t the King play a more dominant role within the constitutional framework?
Especially if he turns out to be one of the few people Trump respects in the world.
I’ve only spoken to Trump once.
Well, I listened actually: I couldn’t get a word edgeways because he did all the talking in a call from his Menie estate – I just wrote it down.
I can’t foresee a spectacular cavalcade through crowded flag-waving north-east streets to welcome him.
A P&J poll reflected public concern over a Scottish royal castle providing a springboard for the state visit.
Around 80% were against it, with 20% in support.
Older readers share memories which stretch back to the anguish of the Cold War, but now overshadowed by fears for the futures of younger relatives.
We agonise over balancing Putin appeasement with nuclear deterrent.
The trouble with bullies is that they only respect another bully – or a bigger bully.
My blood ran cold
I remember standing on the Cold War frontline with a British army battalion years ago.
I was staring through binoculars at East German border guards in their lookout turrets above the barbed wire; it looked like they were staring back at me.
I asked a senior officer what would happen if Soviet tanks poured over and massed across the Channel.
“We could perhaps hold them back for a day before switching to tactical nuclear alternatives,” he replied.
My blood ran cold; I dread to think what would happen now after decades of defence underspending.
Would Ukraine have been attacked so brutally had it not been stripped of nuclear weapons under a previous “security deal”?
First Minister Swinney also condemned a Trump state visit as undesirable if the White House continued to abandon Zelensky.
I almost agreed with him.
Swinney’s positioning on this is interesting.
He called for everyone to stand “full-square” behind Ukraine.
Almost in the same breath he reiterated SNP ambitions to banish the UK’s Trident nuclear defences from Scotland – if it had the power.
Is this standing “full-square” behind Nato in a suddenly more dangerous world?
A stronger Europe which punches its weight
Starmer exploited this dichotomy at prime minister’s questions on March 3.
SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn – a former Aberdeen councillor – berated US withdrawal of support for Ukraine.
Starmer counter-attacked sharply over Swinney’s “wrong-headed” stance on nuclear weapons – a policy which looks increasingly feeble, and outdated by the threat of war at our door.
Maybe Trump has a brilliant master plan for peace – business panache cutting through stultifying political malaise.
While we’re waiting, we need a stronger Europe which punches its weight.
This would surely magnify Scotland’s importance in a dangerous new warlike era with its continued Nato nuclear defence at Faslane and typhoon squadrons at Lossiemouth.
It’s hard to tell if Trump’s metamorphosis – and his fondness for using tariffs as economic weapons – will make him our friend or foe.
They say keep your “enemies” close, so must we cry “Welcome to Scotland, Mr Trump,” through gritted teeth?
Or should we end the uncertainty at a stroke by applying to become his 52nd state (with due respect to Canada’s troubles).
It might tick boxes in Trump world.
After all, he has Scottish blood, owns chunks of Scottish golfing real estate – and Scotland is closer to Washington than Hawaii.
Maybe not.
David Knight is the long-serving former deputy editor of The Press and Journal
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