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       Donald Trump said “it was a very sad night” for the entire family as he condoled the death of Melania Trump’s mother Amalija Knavs, who passed away at the age of 78.

       Ms Trump announced with “deep sadness” on Twitter/X that her mother passed away on Tuesday night. Mr Trump described Knavs as a “great and beautiful mother” who will be missed by the family.

       “This is a very sad night for the entire Trump family!!!” Mr Trump wrote on his social media site, Truth Social. “Melania’s great and beautiful mother, Amalija, has just gone to a beautiful place in the sky. She was an incredible woman, and will be missed far beyond words!”

       Mr Trump also shared a picture in which the two posed with wide smiles on their faces.

       The former president had hinted of her ill health during the New Year’s celebration at his Mar-a-Lago residence, saying that Knavs was “very ill” and his wife was with her at a hospital in Miami.

       “It’s a tough one, very tough one,” he said of the situation.

       File Viktor Knavs and Amalija Knavs, parents of first lady Melania Trump, wave after President Donald Trump spoke from the South Lawn of the White House

       " srcset="https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/01/10/05/Obit_Amalija_Knavs_74839.jpg?quality=75&width=320&auto=webp 320w, https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/01/10/05/Obit_Amalija_Knavs_74839.jpg?quality=75&width=640&auto=webp 640w" src="https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/01/10/05/Obit_Amalija_Knavs_74839.jpg" data-gallery-length="2" class="i-amphtml-fill-content i-amphtml-replaced-content">

       File Viktor Knavs and Amalija Knavs, parents of first lady Melania Trump, wave after President Donald Trump spoke from the South Lawn of the White House

       (Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

       The Trumps had a very close relationship with Ms Trump’s mother Amalija and father Victor Knavs. During Mr Trump’s presidency, Knavs and her husband lived in New York. For some part they also live in the upper floors of the White House and made occasional appearances.

       Knavs was also part of a 2018 ceremony where the first lady debuted her “Be Best” public awareness campaign to help children.

       Ms Trump did not reveal the cause of her mother’s demise.

       Knavs was born in Austria and moved to Slovenia. She worked at a textile factory in Sevnica, a town in Slovenia while her husband worked as a car salesman.

       Ms Trump sponsored her Slovenian immigrant parents to the US as they took the oath of office to become citizens at a New York City courthouse in 2018. However, their lawyer had said that the two applied for their citizenship on their own and were not given special treatment.

       They welcomed their first daughter Ines who now lives in Manhattan in 1968 and gave birth to Ms Trump two years later, who went on to study in Ljubljana.

       The two sisters then moved to Milan to launch their modelling careers before the younger one came to the US in 1996.

       She met Mr Trump two years later and they got married in 2005.

       More about Donald Trump Truth Social Melania Trump Twitter

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       1/ 2Donald Trump pays tribute to late mother-in-law

       Donald Trump pays tribute to late mother-in-law

       File Viktor Knavs and Amalija Knavs, parents of first lady Melania Trump, wave after President Donald Trump spoke from the South Lawn of the White House

       Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

       Donald Trump pays tribute to late mother-in-law

       File Amalija Knavs, mother of First Lady Melania Trump, looks on after departing from Air Force One upon arrival at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland in 2019

       AFP via Getty Images

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