Former first lady Melania Trump mourned her mother, Amalija Knavs, at a private funeral in Florida Thursday morning.
Knavs – who died on Jan. 9 at age 78 – was set to be honored in a 10 a.m. service at The Episcopal Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea in Palm Beach, not far from Donald Trump’s Mar-A-Lago estate.
In-laws of Knavs, including Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner, Tiffany Trump, and Kim Guilfoyle, fiancée of Donald Trump Jr. were seen arriving at the church before the memorial service began.
The former president, 77, notably missed a day of his New York City defamation trial with writer E. Jean Carroll to attend his mother-in-law’s funeral – after fuming at the judge’s refusal to delay the proceedings for the event.
“I thought it was terrible. I thought it was terrible,” Trump said of Judge Lewis A. Kaplan’s decision at a press conference in New York Wednesday.
The real estate mogul slammed Kaplan as a “nasty man” and a “Trump-hating guy.”
Ahead of the funeral, the town of Palm Beach issued traffic warnings alerting locals to congestion near the church, which was also the site of Trump and Melania’s star-studded 2005 nuptials, The Palm Beach Daily News reported.
Trump praised his late mother-in-law in his victory speech after winning the Iowa Caucuses on Monday night.
“I want to thank her incredible, beautiful mother who passed away a few days ago,” Trump said. “And she’s up there, way up there. She’s looking down and she’s so proud of us,” he told the crowd.
“And I just want to say to Amalija, you are special, one of the most special people I’ve ever known,” he added of the Slovenian-American.
At a campaign rally, the former president also credited Knavs’ cooking as being the reason why he and Melania’s son, Barron Trump, is 6 feet, 7 inches tall, the Daily News noted.
In addition to her daughter and grandson, Knavs is survived by her husband, Viktor Knavs, and her older daughter, Ines.
The Knavses raised their two girls in Sevnica, a rural industrial town in what was then part of Communist-ruled Yugoslavia.
Knavs and her husband remained relatively private during their daughter’s high-profile marriage to Trump – though they occasionally appeared at the White House during their son-in-law’s presidency.
In 2018, Knavs appeared at her daughter’s launch of the “Be Best” campaign.
In recent years, Knavs and Viktor lived with the Trump family at Mar-a-Lago.
Melania – who changed her surname from Knavs to Knauss during her modeling career – announced her mother’s passing on Twitter last week.
“It is with deep sadness that I announce the passing of my beloved mother, Amalija,” the former first lady wrote.
“Amalija Knavs was a strong woman who always carried herself with grace, warmth, and dignity. She was entirely devoted to her husband, daughters, grandson, and son-in-law. We will miss her beyond measure and continue to honor and love her legacy.”
With Post wires