US Election 2016: Who are the next generation of Trumps?

  • Published
Donald Jr, Ivanka, Eric and Tiffany TrumpImage source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Donald Jr, Ivanka, Eric and Tiffany are supporting their father

"Congratulations, Dad, we love you!" shouted Donald Trump Jr.

His father had just clinched the presidential nomination at the Republican Party Convention in Cleveland.

The 38-year-old was among four of Mr Trump's five children in attendance.

His offspring are taking on an increasingly visible role in his campaign - but who are they?

Time to meet the family.

Image source, AFP

Donald Junior

Donald senior has three children - Donald Jr, Ivanka, 34, and Eric, 32 - from his first marriage to Ivana Trump, a daughter - Tiffany, 22 - from his second marriage to Marla Maples and a son - Barron, 10 - with his wife Melania. He also has eight grandchildren.

Ivana Trump, nee Zelnickova, was a Czech model and Donald Jr grew up speaking Czech, external with her and his grandparents.

As a young man, Donald Jr avoided the limelight because, as he told the New York Times, external in 2006, "otherwise, I'm just Donald Trump's son, some little rich kid running around".

Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Now a political dynasty? Eric (L), wife Lara Yunaska, Donald, Barron, Melania, Vanessa Haydon, Donald Jr, Jared Kushner, Ivanka and Tiffany Trump

But he said he later realised the Trump name had its uses and not taking advantage of it would be "stupid".

Now executive vice-president of The Trump Organization, he married model Vanessa Haydon in 2005 after being introduced to her at a fashion show by his father. The couple have five children.

His rise has not been free of controversy. His - and brother Eric's - taste for hunting big game was criticised after photos emerged, external showing them posing with dead animals including a leopard and a crocodile and showing Donald Jr holding the severed tail of an elephant.

Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,

He initially shunned the limelight

Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Donald Jr was introduced to his wife Vanessa by his father

Donald Jr told fans he would "make no apology for being a hunter" and insisted he had given the meat to "grateful" local villagers, external in Zimbabwe.

On Tuesday he spoke about growing up alongside his father at job sites and boardrooms and later tweeted, external that addressing Republican delegates had been "intense".

Image source, AFP/Getty

Ivanka

Thirty-four-year-old Ivanka is perhaps the best-known of Mr Trump's children and has been described as his "secret weapon".

A model in her early years, she is now a hard-working executive vice-president of development and acquisitions at The Trump Organization, was a judge on Mr Trump's reality TV show The Apprentice and has also turned her name into a lifestyle brand.

Ivanka converted to Judaism when she married Jared Kushner, owner of the New York Observer newspaper and the couple have three children. She is said to meditate twice a day.

Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Donald and Ivanka have a close relationship

Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,

With her father and brothers in Scotland

Observers say bringing the Trump children into the spotlight could boost their father's chances of entering the White House. Ivanka - who describes her father as the "ultimate outsider" - is at the forefront of that strategy.

"She was the most charming, gracious, intelligent, beautiful, polite young lady I had just about ever met. When we left, I said to my wife, `Well, I'm probably going to have to reassess my opinion of Donald Trump'," Ralph Reed, a Republican operative and leader of the Faith and Freedom Coalition, told the AP news agency.

Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Ivanka converted to Judaism to be with husband Jared Kushner

Ivanka is also good friends with Chelsea Clinton, daughter of her father's bitter rival for the presidency Hillary Clinton.

Apart from their personal rapport, the two have in common that their fathers have both had turbulent public love lives. They have also chosen to throw themselves into their family's work.

However there are signs the women have put their friendship on ice, choosing not to be seen together during a campaign full of insults and vitriol, Politico, external reported.

Image source, Getty Images

Eric

Mr Trump's third child by his first wife Ivana, 32-year-old Eric, also works for The Trump Organization and is president of the Trump Winery in Virginia.

Aged 23, Eric launched his charitable organisation helping children battling life-threatening conditions and was last year named one of the "top 20 philanthropists under 40" by the New York Observer, external (owned by the husband of his sister Ivanka).

The newspaper said he bore a "strong resemblance to his father in looks but not in tone".

Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,

"A strong resemblance to his father," the New York Observer said

Image source, AFP/Getty
Image caption,

Eric's wife Lara Yunaska is a passionate animal welfare supporter

In 2014, Eric married Lara Yunaska, a former TV producer and avid equestrian who broke both her wrists in a horse-riding accident two weeks before the wedding.

She is also a passionate animal welfare advocate, according to Eric's website, external. It is not known what she makes of her husband's fondness for hunting big game, external on safari.

The couple have a dog, Charlie, and regularly post photos, external of him on social media under the hashtag #dogsfortrump.

Image source, Reuters

Tiffany

Now 22, Tiffany is Mr Trump's daughter by his second wife Marla Maples, a former actress and TV personality who famously remarked, external that Mr Trump had given her the "best sex I've ever had".

Tiffany has said that she was raised by her mother with financial support from Mr Trump. She was apparently named after the New York jewellery store, according to US media reports, external.

Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Tiffany was brought up by her mother

Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,

She said her father was a "natural-born encourager"

While studying at the University of Pennsylvania she released a pop song "Like a bird" featuring the line "You're cute and you're tweeting me".

She is an avid user of both Twitter and Instagram, external, where she posts photos depicting a glamorous lifestyle - but is the only one of Mr Trump's four grown children that he does not follow, external on Twitter.

He did nevertheless tweet, external praise for her and Donald Jr's "fantastic" convention speeches, saying he was "very proud" of them.

Tiffany had told Republican delegates that her father was a "natural-born encourager".

Image source, Getty Images

Barron

The son of Mr Trump's current wife Melania, 10-year-old Barron is not yet old enough to be in the spotlight.

Melania, a former model from Slovenia, has told a US parenting website that she is a stay-at-home mother to Barron and works on her business while he is at school.

Image source, AP
Image caption,

Barron aged three with his parents in Los Angeles

"He is a very strong-minded, very special, smart boy. He is independent and opinionated and knows exactly what he wants. Sometimes I call him little Donald. He is a mixture of us in looks, but his personality is why I call him little Donald," she told Parenting.com, external.

He loves to draw and, like his father, to "build something and tear it down and build something else", Melania said.

Mr Trump and his son often spend time together in Palm Beach, Florida, where they "play golf, spend time together, eat dinner together", she said.