First Lady mostly absent from White House during first 100 days

The First Lady of United States arrived at the White House with President Donald Trump on Inauguration Day but has been mostly absent ever since and continues to live in New York with her only child.

Melania Trump also is not expected to be a very active First Lady when she moves into the presidential residence on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, a transition she plans to make once her 11-year-old son Barron finishes his current school year, EFE news reported.

The former Slovenian model, who turned 47 earlier this week, is apparently a very private person who has little interest in politics, Ohio University professor Katherine Jellison, whose research has partly focused on US first ladies, told EFE.

During Donald Trump's first 100 days in office, her most notable public appearance occurred in late March at the Department of State, where she pledged the US would closely monitor nations that fail to protect women's rights and work to combat gender-related violence.

At that International Women of Courage Awards event, which honoured 13 brave women, Trump's wife gave a speech lasting just 10 minutes.

She has made just a few other public appearances without her husband.

In February, Melania Trump visited the National Museum of African-American History and Culture in Washington with Sara Netanyahu, the wife of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and in early March she met with children in the pediatrics unit playroom at the New York Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Centre.

She has been seen more frequently in the company of her husband, recently taking part in the White House's traditional Easter Egg Roll event, visiting wounded soldiers at a military hospital outside Washington, participating in an event to honour the National Teacher of the Year and welcoming Argentine President Mauricio Macri and his wife, Juliana Awada, to the White House.

The First Lady also normally has travelled to Mar-a-Lago when the President has decided to spend the weekend at his estate in Florida.

Jellison said she cannot envision Melania advising or differing with her husband on political matters, although she said she may give him recommendations relating to his style as the head of state, such as urging him to stop sending out his regular daily barrage of early-morning tweets.

--IANS

lok/