Who Is Ines Knauss? Melania Trump’s Sister

Melania Trump’s seldom-seen sister is garnering attention due to the passing of the siblings’ mother.

On Tuesday, the former first lady announced the death of her 78-year-old mother, Amalija Knavs, who, along with her husband Viktor, became U.S. citizens in 2018 during Donald Trump’s presidency. Knavs, who died on January 9, was described as a “beloved mother” and a “strong woman who always carried herself with grace, warmth, and dignity.”

The former president intends to skip Thursday’s court hearing in Manhattan as part of the second E. Jean Carroll defamation trial to attend the private funeral service, taking place near Mar-a-Lago at The Episcopal Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea. On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan told Trump attorney Alina Habba to “sit down” when she requested an adjournment of proceedings so Trump could attend the funeral.

Amalija was often seen at the White House between 2017 to 2021, including her presence at the 2018 ceremony where Melania debuted her initiative aimed at helping children—”Be Best.”

“This is a very sad night for the entire Trump family!!!” Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social following Knavs’ passing. “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!”

The funeral has drawn attention to Ines Knauss, an artist and Melania’s older sister who, as of 2020, lived in a $2 million Trump-owned apartment on New York’s Upper East Side—the same building formerly occupied by Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump before they moved out of the city, according to Town & Country.

When Donald Trump won the 2016 election, it was speculated that Melania delayed her own move from New York City to the White House due to their son, Barron, finishing the school year. It’s reported that Melania’s close relationship with Knauss, both of whom grew up in Slovenia, also played a pivotal role in keeping her in town an extended period of time.

“They are very close,” Palm Beach philanthropist Audrey Gruss told the New York Post in 2017. She met Knauss at a fundraiser for the Boys’ Club of New York at the Trumps’ Mar-a-Lago ­estate in 2005. “She struck me as a lovely person, and extremely creative.”

Ale de Basseville, a Paris-based photographer who photographed Melania nude in the mid-1990s in New York City for a French men’s magazine, told the Post that Knauss—who had her own aspirations in the fashion world—was different from other women he encountered.

“She really wanted to be in fashion but didn’t know how to break in,” said de Basseville. “Ines wasn’t like the other girls you would meet there, who behave like queens. She was really polite and very mellow.”

Knauss and Melania have both shown an affinity for one another through various social media posts, including Knauss posting pictures of a young Melania next to a birthday cake with one candle. Melania has posted different illustrations created by her sister.