Amalija Knavs

Amalija Knavs (née Ulčnik) was born on July 9, 1945, in Judendorf-Straßengel, Austria. She was raised in Austria and in Slovenia, which was part of Yugoslavia during her childhood. Her mother was Amalija (née Gliha), a seamstress and farmeress, and her father was Anton Ulčnik, a cobbler who later became a red-onion farmer. During her youth, she worked on her family's onion farm.

From 1964 to 1997, Knavs worked at a state-owned children's clothing factory, where her responsibilities included creating and monitoring textile patterns. She met Viktor Knavs, a member of the League of Communists of Slovenia, in Sevnica in 1966. After their marriage, they resided in Sevnica, Slovenia. Together, they had two daughters: Ines, born in 1968, and Melanija, born in 1970.

By August 2017, Amalija and Viktor Knavs were living in New York City. Reports indicated that Melania Trump sponsored their green cards. In May 2018, Knavs attended the White House Rose Garden ceremony in which Melania Trump launched the "Be Best" public awareness campaign.

In August 2018, Amalija and Viktor Knavs became United States citizens after taking the oath at a courthouse in New York City. The New York Times noted that she did not publicly conform to the stereotypical image of an American grandmother.

Amalija Knavs died on January 9, 2024, at a hospital in Miami, Florida, at the age of 78. She had been "very ill" since late 2023. Reports from People magazine indicated that Melania Trump had stayed at her bedside and skipped a New Year's Eve party at Mar-a-Lago to be with her mother.