Melania Trump became the US First Lady when Donald Trump was inaugurated in January 2017. The former model appears to have taken to the role well and has appeared determined to make the role her own. What traditions has she shunned?
She did not move into White House
After the US President is inaugurated, their family will usually move into the White House.
However, the former model decided not to make the move straight away and continued living in her home in New York.
In fact, they did not officially move to the Washington House until June 2017, five months after Donald became President.
Melania reportedly delayed the move so the couple’s son, Barron, could finish off the year at school.
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She did not host state dinner
After taking the role, the First Lady will often plan and hold state dinners at the White House.
The White House will usually hold a state dinner at the end of the year, however Donald did not have one after his first year in office.
Although the reason for this was not revealed, it could have been the decision of Melania as the First Lady will often plan these.
The mother-of-one has continued the annual Easter Egg Roll at the White House and hosted the 141th roll last year.
She also decided to support a campaign of her own and has launched Be Best to fight cyber bullying.
Melania’s initiative also focuses on the well-being of young people and opioid abuse.
Melania Trump: Five facts about the USA’s First Lady
Languages
Mum-of-one Melania can speak more languages than any other First Lady before her: English, French, German, Italian, Serbian and of course her mother tongue, Slovenian.
This also makes her the only First Lady whose first language is not English.
Religion
After Jacqueline Kennedy, Melania is the second First Lady who is a practising Catholic.
She met Pope Francis as part of a foreign tour with her husband and stepdaughter Ivanka last year.
Career
Melania was a successful model, posing for Sports Illustrated, Vanity Fair, Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar and GQ.
Her skills aren’t confined to print, and she appeared in a commercial for Aflac, an American insurance company, in 2005.
Family
Melania’s parents are Amalija Knavs and Viktor Knavs, and the couple live together in Washington.
She has one sister, Ines, who is reported to live in New York and work as an artist.
Charity
On May 7 2018, Melania launched her flagship campaign as First Lady, BE BEST, which The White House describes as “an awareness campaign focused entirely around the well-being of children”.
There are three main strands to the initiative: well-being, social media, and opioid abuse.