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 (Gliha) Ulčnik, 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 Sevnica Communist Party in 1966.[5] After marrying, they lived in Sevnica, Slovenia.[6] The couple had two daughters: Ines (born 1968) and Melania (born 1970).[6]
Later life and death
By August 2017, Amalija and her husband were living in New York City.[7] It was later confirmed that Melania sponsored their green cards.[8] In May 2018, Amalija was in attendance for the White House Rose Garden ceremony which saw Melania launch her Be Best public awareness campaign.[9] In August 2018, Amalija and Viktor Knavs became U.S. citizens after taking an oath at a New York City courthouse.[8]The New York Times described her as not adhering in public to the "stereotypes of an American grandmother".[10]
On January 9, 2024, Knavs died at a hospital in Miami, Florida, at the age of 78.[11] 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.[12]