Secret Service and a gold-hued coffin: Ivana Trump’s funeral in style

New York: Mourners filled New York City’s St Vincent Ferrer Church to remember Ivana Trump, first wife of Donald Trump, who is partly credited with elevating the businessman’s profile to a status that helped pave the way for his presidency.

“A very sad day, but at the same time a celebration of a wonderful and beautiful life,” the former president wrote on Truth Social, his social media platform, on on Wednesday (US time). He attended the funeral at the Catholic church with his current wife, former first lady Melania Trump.

Former US president Donald Trump, far left, leads his family behind the gold-hued casket of his ex-wife Ivana at St Vincent Ferrer Roman Catholic Church in New York.Credit: AP

After Secret Service agents checked bags and scanned guests outside the Manhattan church, attendees entered the building to pay their respects to the woman who coined the nickname “The Donald”.

Donald and Ivana Trump’s children - Ivanka, Donald jnr and Eric - and their spouses and significant others were in attendance. Also present were Trump’s second wife, Marla Maples, and their daughter, Tiffany; as was Trump’s third son, Barron, whose mother is Melania.

Fox News host Jeanine Pirro and real estate developer Charles Kushner, father of Ivanka Trump’s husband, Jared Kushner, also attended.

Donald and Ivana Trump rose to prominence in the 1980s, frequent headliners on New York social pages. Besides being married, they were also business partners; she helped managed some of the Trump hotels and casinos. Their divorce in 1992 was spread across the front of the city’s tabloids.

Pallbearers carry the casket of Ivana Trump after her funeral at St. Vincent Ferrer Roman Catholic Church in New York.Credit: AP

Ivana Trump died last week in her Upper East Side home after an accident that left “blunt impact injuries” to her torso. She was 73.

Her ambition and commitment to being seen in a city where competition for the spotlight is vast are partly credited with raising the profile of her husband, then a real estate developer who sometimes waded into local and national politics. Together, they worked on iconic projects like Fifth Avenue’s Trump Tower and collaborated on their well-publicised casino endeavours in Atlantic City.

A native of Czechoslovakia, the avid skier, immigrated to Canada in the 1970s where she worked as a ski instructor and model. While in New York City in 1976, Ivana met Donald and married him the following year. She was the mother of his three eldest children, whom she wrote about in 2017 in her memoir Raising Trump.

Former President Donald Trump, far left, stands with his family as the casket of Ivana Trump leaves following her funeral in New York.Credit: AP

“It wasn’t easy to raise three kids as a full-time working mother, even with nannies,” she wrote.

The marriage lasted 15 years before ending in 1992. She went on to remarry - and divorce - twice but continued to be best known for her relationship with the former president, who announced her death on his social media outlet.

Donald Trump and then-wife, Ivana Trump after she was sworn in as a US citizen in New York in May 1988.Credit: AP

“I am very saddened to inform all of those that loved her, of which there are many, that Ivana Trump has passed away at her home in New York City,” he wrote last week. “She was a wonderful, beautiful, and amazing woman, who led a great and inspirational life.”

The Washington Post