The opening line of his official CV describes him as the "ultimate definition of the American success story". Yesterday Donald Trump also gave a whole new meaning to the parable of the prodigal son. (Includes video)

The opening line of his official CV describes him as the "ultimate definition of the American success story". Yesterday Donald Trump also gave a whole new meaning to the parable of the prodigal son.

The 61-year-old billionaire property developer, TV star and serial divorcee swooped on his ancestral home of Lewis to the warmest of welcomes, despite the visit being his first since Dwight D Eisenhower was in the White House. Mr Trump was stopping over in Stornoway for little more than two hours on the way to Aberdeen to argue the case for a highly controversial £1bn golf resort and housing project. But this flying visit, he said, was all about family and nothing about business. Lewis had clearly forgiven him for five and a half decades of neglect.

"He has never forgotten where he came from and he came from here," explained Mr Trump's big sister, Maryanne Trump Barry, a US federal judge and regular visitor to the Hebridean home of Mr Trump's Scottish "mom", Mary Anne MacLeod, who died in 2000.

"My mother would be so proud to see Donald here today," Mrs Trump Barry said. "She would be proud to see what he has done; the good he has done; the television star that he is."

So how much of this visit was a gimmick, a publicity stunt to puff plans for his Aberdeenshire resort? "Zero," Mr Trump said. "We were flying in and I said this was the right time to come.

"You reach a certain point in life where you like to think where you came from, where your parents are from. I have been wanting to do this for years but I have been so busy doing building jobs all over the world.

"It's a little bit hard from a time standpoint but it is something I am very glad I did. We'll be back."

Mr Trump stressed he wouldn't be doing business in Scotland if it wasn't for what he used to call his "Scotch" mum. His project - a new town, dubbed "Trumpton" by locals, and a golf course on the fragile dunes of the Menie Estate north of Aberdeen - is now in the hands of a public local inquiry, which begins today. The scheme was thrown out by councillors last year in what Mr Trump yesterday called a "crazy sort of thing".

"If it weren't my mother, would I have walked away from the site?" he asked. "I think I probably would have, yes. The reason I got involved was because of the feeling I have for Scotland."

Scotland, however, doesn't always reciprocate. Aberdonians, Mr Trump said, were in favour of his scheme by 93 votes to seven. Some Scots, however, are clearly uncomfortable with his plans for the dunes (Mr Trump calls them "doons"). Others are a bit queasy about what, rightly or wrongly, they see as his privileged access to power (he has been feted by current First Minister Alex Salmond and former First Minister Jack McConnell). Ultimately, though, is there just something in Mr Trump's showmanship, his brash, naked capitalism, that some Scots don't like? "No," said Mr Trump, stressing the importance of what he said would be the greatest golf course in the world. He said: "It will be a great thing for Aberdeen, not only for Aberdeen, but for Scotland."

Mr Trump yesterday stressed he would not be put off by the credit crunch or even the fear of falling Scottish house prices or rising construction costs.

He doesn't, he said, need banks. He has enough of his own money. This is a man, after all, valued at anything from £1bn to £2.5bn.

Mr Trump's mother was born into a very different world, a presbyterian world with little room for such razzmatazz. Her father Malcolm was a crofter, a man of many businesses: a contractor, builder, postmaster and shopkeeper. His wife kept home and hearth. Both were god-fearing Free Kirk Sabbatarians. Would they approve of the lifestyle, the business and personal ups and downs off the self-styled Comeback Kid?

"I think they would," argued Mr Trump. "I have grown up in a very wild part of the world, wild in a different sense, New York City. I have high morals. I am respected from many standpoints. I think they would probably have respected the way I live."

Lewis wasn't fooled by the showman Trump yesterday. Too many on the island believe they already know the real Donald, son of a MacLeod and a man they like a lot for himself, not his image. Many cousins have been over to New York, as Mr Trump's guests. Many more know Mrs Trump Barry. They describe a witty, friendly man with no side, a Donald Trump few would recognise from his media profile.

"It's just a brand," said Chrissie Murray, wife of Mr Trump's first cousin Calum and one of the many Scottish relatives to meet the billionaire when he stepped off his private luxury Boeing airliner. "It's just an act Donald puts on as part of his sales patter."