Presidents and First Ladies Past and Present Attend Former President Jimmy Carter’s Funeral: Melania Trump, Hillary Clinton and More
Presidents, politicians and other dignitaries turned up to pay their final respects to former president Jimmy Carter at his state funeral Thursday morning in Washington, D.C.
The gathering at the National Cathedral reunited opponents from both parties including President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden, President-elect Donald Trump, Vice President Kamala Harris, Vice President-elect JD Vance and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Former presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama were also in attendance, as were former first lady Laura Bush, and former Vice Presidents Al Gore and Mike Pence. Outgoing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was also on hand. As hundreds poured into the pews of the world’s sixth oldest cathedral, Obama and Trump were seen seated sharing a laugh.
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Carter, the 39th U.S. President, died on Dec. 29 at the age of 100 in his hometown of Plains, Ga. Carter’s state funeral was the fifth to be held at the National Cathedral with former presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan, Gerald Ford and George H. W. Bush. Woodrow Wilson was laid to rest inside the cathedral in 1924. Before President Biden’s eulogy for Carter was delivered, attendees could take in the vaulted ceiling, 200-plus stained glass windows, round boss stones and the old-world artisanship of the Gothic structure that took 83 years to complete. Seated beside the President-elect, who donned a dark suit and royal blue tie, Melania Trump appeared noticeably solemn.
Carter’s state funeral falls on what is the one-year anniversary of the death of her mother Amalijas Knavs. The former model was dressed in a black Valentino coat, with a dramatic white collar with floral details in black and gray and Manolo Blahnik heels. She traveled to the Beltway on Wednesday in a Dolce & Gabbana double-breasted midnight blue suit, which was what she wore for her husband’s State of the Union address in 2020.
Trump and her stylist Hervé Pierre have been criticized for not choosing more American labels for key photo ops, but eight years ago multiple American designers said publicly that they would not dress her, if asked to. Instead of working directly with American designers — and paying wholesale prices or being comped clothing — as some first ladies did — Pierre routinely shops in designer stores in New York City and buys full-priced clothing. He said Wednesday that European luxury houses have been reaching out recently to dress the incoming first lady, adding that after she appears in public in a designer look, women routinely call the designer’s store looking for the same look. “Some of the designers here in New York are lovely. The Europeans are more open-minded. They see dressing Mrs. Trump, due to the press coverage that she is getting, as a business opportunity to generate sales and free publicity,” he said.
Pierre was once turned away by a salesperson outside of the entrance to a designer store in New York City. He said, “I understand that you can criticize Mrs. Trump, but to say to someone who is coming to shop — full price, ‘You are not welcome here.’ That is something that I would have never expected.”
The fashion critics and fans will have plenty more to dissect when the Trumps take up residence in the White House later this month. Amazon Prime will also be serving up more of an up-close look at the incoming first lady with a documentary that Brett Ratner is producing. That $40 million project is said to be focusing on the lead-up to her return to the East Wing. Executives at Amazon Prime and Ratner’s production company RatPac Entertainment did not respond to media requests.
Knavs’ funeral was held last January at the Episcopal Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea in Palm Beach, Fla., which is also where the Trumps wed. Her mother and father Viktor, who raised Trump and her older sister Ines in Slovenia, became U.S. citizens in 2018. The couple resided in Trump Tower and spent time with the Trumps in Mar-a-Lago. Giving the eulogy for her mother last year, the former model, in a V-neck black dress, said, “In her presence, the world seemed to shimmer with radiance and joy.”
President Jimmy Carter Dead at 100, From Georgia Peanut Farmer to the White House: A Life in Pictures
Launch Gallery: President Jimmy Carter Dead at 100, From Georgia Peanut Farmer to the White House: A Life in Pictures
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