The church is where Trump and his wife were married in 2005. Knavs died on January 9 in Miami after an undisclosed illness.
At mid-morning, the hearse pulled up in front of the church, followed by an SUV carrying the former president and first lady and two other vehicles with their Secret Service details. Melania Trump and her father, Viktor Knavs, wearing a black dress and sunglasses, led a procession up to the church, followed by the former president and their son Barron.
Former President Donald Trump, center right, stands with Melania as the casket carrying her mother's remains is carried to the church for her funeral, in Palm Beach, Florida.credit: AP
They then waited on the church steps as the coffin was lifted from the hearse and taken into the church.
After the service, a priest waved an incense jar, and a man raised a cross as the casket was taken out of the church, followed by Melania Trump and her father, then Donald Trump and their son Barron.
After placing the coffin in the hearse, the former president and first lady exchanged pleasantries with the priest. Donald Trump took his wife into an SUV with her father, and then he got into a separate car.
Former President Donald Trump stands behind his wife, Melania, as she watches a priest wave incense around the coffin of her late mother, Amalia Knavs.credit: AP
During Trump's presidency, the first lady's mother lived in New York with her father and occasionally appeared at the White House. Amalia Knavs was present at the 2018 ceremony where the First Lady launched her “Be Best” public awareness campaign to help children.
Melania was raised by the Knavs family, and her older sister, Ines, was born in the rural industrial town of Sevnica while Slovenia was under communist rule as part of Yugoslavia. Amalia Knavs was a textile worker and housewife, while her husband worked as a driver before becoming a car dealer.
The former First Lady, 53, attended high school in the Slovenian capital, Ljubljana, and changed her name to Melania Knaus when she began modeling. She settled in New York in 1996 and met Trump in 1998.
She sponsored her parents' immigration to the United States, and they became citizens in New York City court in 2018, when Trump was president.
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Their lawyer at the time said they applied for citizenship themselves and did not receive any special treatment.
Donald Trump spent Tuesday and Wednesday attending a defamation trial in New York to determine how much he owes former advice columnist E. Jane Carroll for publicly disparaging her after she accused him of rape.
Trump's lawyers had asked the judge to postpone the trial for a day to allow him to attend the funeral, but this request was rejected. Trump chose to skip Thursday's court hearing rather than miss the funeral or postpone it to Friday when the hearing is not scheduled.
