Amalija Ulčnik was born on July 9, 1945, in Judendorf-Straßengel, Austria. She was raised there and in Slovenia, which was at the time part of Yugoslavia. Her mother, Amalija (née Gliha), was a seamstress and homemaker and her father, Anton Ulčnik, was a cobbler and later a red-onion farmer.[1]
In her youth, she worked on her family's onion farm. From 1964 to 1997, she worked at a state-owned children's clothing factory where she created and monitored textile patterns.[1]
Knavs met her husband, Viktor, a member of the SevnicaCommunist Party in 1966.[3] After marrying, they lived in Sevnica, Slovenia.[4] The couple had two daughters: Ines (b. 1968) and Melanija (b. 1970).[4]
Later life and death
By August 2017, Amalija and her husband were living in New York City.[5] It was later confirmed that Melania sponsored their green cards.[6] In May 2018, Amalija was in attendance for the White House Rose Garden ceremony which saw Melania launch her Be Best public awareness campaign.[7] In August 2018, Amalija and Viktor Knavs became U.S. citizens after taking an oath at a New York City courthouse.[6]The New York Times described her as not adhering in public to the "stereotypes of an American grandmother".[8]
On January 9, 2024, Knavs died at a hospital in Miami, Florida, at the age of 78.[9] She had been "very ill" since late 2023, with sources confirming to People that Melania skipped a Mar-a-Lago New Year's Eve party to attend to her bedside.[10]
