President Trump has long coveted the Nobel Peace Prize, one of five established in the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor, and armaments manufacturer Alfred Nobel.

Since 1901 it has been awarded annually to those who have "done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations".

And it remains a source of anger that former US President Barack Obama won the award in 2009, just one year into his first term in the White House, with the current occupant saying he didn't know "what the hell he got it for."

The peace prize is set to be awarded on Friday and at his recent appearance before the United Nations General Assembly in New York, President Trump said "everyone says that I should get the Nobel Peace Prize".

But he reckons his chances of winning the most coveted prize in humanity are slim, saying: "No matter what I do, they won't give it." He added: "I'm not politicking for it (but) I have a lot of people that are."

Not all nominations are accepted and if candidates do not meet the spirit of the prize, the committee blackballs them.

Nelson Mandela and Jimmy Carter are past winners of an award given for efforts to advance human rights and promote peace.

This year, only one laureate or organisation will receive the peace prize from 338 nominees. The highly secretive Nobel Committee does not confirm the list of nominees and keeps names anonymous for 50 years after the ceremony, but 244 are individuals, and 94 are organisations.

President Trump was first nominated in 2019 when he boasted Japan's then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe put him forward after his 2018 summit with North Korean despot Kim Jong Un to discuss the rogue state's nuclear weapons programme.

He said Mr Abe had given him "the most beautiful copy of a letter that he sent to the people who give out a thing called the Nobel Prize".

He claimed Mr Abe told him: "I have nominated you," to which President Trump replied: "Thank you. Many other people feel that way too. I'll probably never get it. But that's okay."

Donald Trump set to discover whether he's landed Nobel prize