Washington, Jan 16 (IANS): US President-elect Donald Trump has said he loved Britain and that his mother was crazy about Queen Elizabeth II.

Trump, in his first UK interview with former Justice Secretary Michael Gove for The Times, said on Sunday that his affection for the UK may be in no small part thanks to his Scottish mother Mary Anne MacLeod.

MacLeod, who died 17 years ago, had left the Isle of Lewis in the Hebrides at the age of 18 in 1930 to make her fortune in New York.

The New York real-estate mogul's mother was obsessed with the royal family -- the Queen, in particular.

"Any time the Queen was on television, an event, my mother would be watching. Crazy, right?"

"She sort of had a flair, she loved the Queen, she loved anything -- she was so proud of the Queen. She loved the ceremonial and the beauty, because nobody does that like the English. And she had great respect for the Queen," said the incoming President, who is set to take office here on January 20.

The President-elect also told the British daily that he was inviting Prime Minister Theresa May to visit him "right after" he gets into the White House, and that he was going to "work very hard" to get a trade deal done quickly between the US and the UK.

Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron on Monday dismissed The Times interview with Trump as "a puff piece from a clearly admiring fan".

"I don't know the shape of the Europe that Trump dreams of, but I know it frightens me," he said.