Suspicion is that it was fear of mass protests that led him to cancel

DONALD Trump and trouble are synonymous.

The 45th US President only has to tap his finger or open his mouth and a blazing row ensues. You could not make it up that on the day the Commander-in-Chief was praising the great African-American civil rights leader Martin Luther King, the Donald was embroiled in a row over, allegedly, calling African states “s**tholes”.

As country after country as well as the United Nations took Mr Trump to task for his “racist” sentiment, his core supporters rallied to his defence.

Steve King, a right-wing Republican Congressman from Iowa, tweeted: “Hang in there Mr President @realDonaldTrump. If those countries aren’t as you described, Democrats should be happy to deport criminal aliens back to them.”

And it was quite something when, at the end of the King event in the White House, a journalist shouted to Mr Trump: “Are you racist?”

Despite the President’s claim, the suspicion is that it was his knack for controversy that led him to pull his expected visit next month to Britain.

Mr Trump had been due to open the new American embassy in London. The erstwhile real estate guru derided the Obama administration for having sold the previous embassy in Mayfair “for peanuts”; it was actually George W Bush’s government which signed the deal.

But the great suspicion is that it was the fear of mass protests that led him to pull the plug.

When asked various questions about Mr Trump’s decision and whether the planned state visit was in doubt, No 10 churned out the same robotic phrase: “The US is one of our most valued allies. The invitation has been extended and accepted. No date has been confirmed.”

But it is hard to believe that if the President was wary enough of protests to pull a quick in-and-out visit to Britain, he would be even warier of his reception when he turns up for a full fourday state visit.

One detects a wariness in Downing Street. The Special Relationship is looking hazy.

All of which must lead many to conclude that the Donald will never set foot on UK soil in his presidency.

Harry and Meghan will be heartbroken.