The woman behind Trump

The US has a new first lady, but despite more than a year of heavy scrutiny for Donald Trump, we still know surprisingly little about his wife, Melania. She kept a fairly low profile during the Republican's election campaign, aside from a disastrous speech at the Republican National Convention in July, which was found to be partially plagiarised from First Lady Michelle Obama. Commentators speculated as to why Melania could not be seen stumping for her husband on the campaign trail across the country, as past wives have done. Perhaps the campaign feared her status as a foreigner - complete with a heavy accent - would undermine Trump's appeal to anti-immigrant voters. If so, they were probably wrong, says Vox, whose polling of US voters found "European immigrants are perceived very differently from Latin American or Middle Eastern immigrants". Trump's chequered marital history could also be to blame. Melania is "the first third wife to take up residence in the White House", says i24 News, and giving her a high-profile position in the campaign would risk increased media focus on Trump's two previous marriages and multiple infidelities. Or was she simply not interested in the spotlight?