President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump arrive for the 60th annual Red Cross Gala at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort. Photo / AP
President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump arrive for the 60th annual Red Cross Gala at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort. Photo / AP
She has had a quiet start to her official role as First Lady.
And while Donald Trump is everywhere, we've heard very little from Melania Trump since her husband took office more than two weeks ago.
Mrs Trump has not been seen at many official events, is not living inthe White House and is still putting her staff together.
While the President's daughter Ivanka has maintained a noticeable presence in her father's company, the First Lady herself has been largely absent.
Some have questioned what sort of First Lady Mrs Trump will make, while the former model has also raised eyebrows over her decision to delay moving to the White House.
Others have pointed out the high cost of Mrs Trump deciding to stay in the family's Fifth Avenue skyscraper while the couple's son, Barron, finishes the school year.
In an analysis last year, CNN revealed the cost of protecting Mr Trump and his family in New York City was around $1 million a day.
Along with Mr Trump, his adult children and grandchildren are also entitled to receive Secret Service and police protection.
Member of the First Family: Donald Trump, his son Barron, wife Melania, Jared Kushner, and Ivanka Trump. Photo / AP
Mrs Trump, a 46-year-old former model wowed the crowds at his swearing-in ceremony and inaugural balls dressed in Ralph Lauren powder blue and a vanilla crepe ensemble.
She appeared at her husband's side at Saturday night's Red Cross Ball at the Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida and was today by his side to watch the Super Bowl.
President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump watch the Super Bowl at a party at Trump International Golf Club. Photo / AP
She was also pictured greeting him on the tarmac after he arrived via Air Force One at Palm Beach International Airport in Florida on Friday.
Prior to that, the First Lady was last spotted with the President at an interfaith church service on January 21 before making the reported 90-minute commute home to New York by helicopter, plane and motorcade the following day.
With no immediate plans to move to Washington, she has recently confirmed Barron will stay at his school at least until the end of the academic year.
Last Tuesday, she was nowhere to be seen when Mr Trump announced his Supreme Court pick, with Vice President Mike Pence and Neil Gorsuch bringing their wives along.
Even Mr Trump's sons Donald Jr and Eric made the journey from New York.
President Trump and First Lady Melania waves to supporters at the Presidential Inauguration. Photo / AP
The next day, the president's daughter Ivanka accompanied him to Delaware to honour a fallen Navy SEAL.
Unlike her stepmother, Ivanka has already moved from New York with her husband, White House adviser Jared Kushner.
Americans are accustomed to having visible and active first ladies, and never in modern times has a president's wife not moved straight to Washington straight away.
Katherine Jellison, history professor at Ohio University, told AFP such a move was unprecedented.
"Certainly in that time we haven't seen a phenomenon such as this where the First Lady delays for at least several months moving into the White House," she said.
QUIET START COMMON
President Donald Trump danced with First Lady Melania to Frank Sinatra's 'My Way'. Photo / AP
But while Mrs Trump's decision not to move to the White House may have raised eyebrows, traditionally first ladies tend to maintain low profiles at the start of their husband's terms.
"The First Lady often sets out her policy agenda in March or April, complementing and reinforcing the 100-days agenda of the president," said Connecticut College government professor Maryann Borrelli.
But both Hillary Clinton and Rosalynn Carter proved exceptions to the rule.
Last week, the White House announced that the First Lady had appointed a chief of staff - Lindsay Reynolds, who previously served there under George W. Bush.
"I am putting together a professional and highly experienced team which will take time to do properly," she said in the statement.
Beyond admiring Michelle Obama and Jacqueline Kennedy and mentioning a potential campaign against cyber bullying, Mrs Trump has given little indication so far of what kind of First Lady she wants to be.
'DEEPLY HONOURED TO SERVE'
Donald Trump and Melania during the Republican National Convention in July. Photo / AP
Since her husband assumed office, the First Lady's official Facebook and Twitter accounts have issued just one update - on January 21 - proclaiming she was "deeply honoured" to serve.
Just one appointment to her staff has been revealed besides Ms Reynolds: longtime friend and New York event planner Stephanie Winston Wolkoff as senior adviser. Other positions such as press and social secretaries have yet to be filled.
The absence is not helping her lacklustre approval ratings, partly a byproduct of her husband's deep unpopularity among half the electorate. She was also mocked during the campaign for a major speech that plagiarised Michelle Obama.
But Prof Borrelli believes her unpopularity is not entirely unusual.
"I think that first ladies often enter the White House with a mix of support and suspicion and then the job is - because they do public outreach - how to capitalise on the support and manage suspicion," she said.
Mrs Obama, the first African-American first lady, and Mrs Clinton and Eleanor Roosevelt, who both defied the meek housewife stereotype, also came in for heavy criticism particularly at the start of their husband's terms.
Others point out it is time for an independent first lady who reflects reality in the 21st century, when few American women are defined by their husbands.
Should Mrs Trump continue to keep a low profile, future generations may credit her as a moderniser who broke free from the confines of her position.
"It may lower expectations for the next woman," said Katherine Jellison, who chairs the history department at Ohio University.
"She won't feel that she has to be the perfect American wife and mother role model."
The First Lady role is an official rather than a legally binding position.
'CHILL IN RELATIONS'
Donald Trump kisses his wife Melania as she introduces him when he was on the campaign trail in November. Photo / AP
As Politico point out, Mrs Trump isn't the only foreign-born First Lady who has not been a hit with the public at first.
The wife to President John Quincy Adams, Louisa Catherine Adams was British and it took a while before the US warmed to her.
She "had not catered to the city's powerful elites, leading to a chill in relations at the start of her husband's administration," Politico reveal adding this soon changed.
Mrs Adams proved to be a shrewd asset and soon charmed her husband's critics and rivals, something Mrs Trump could also do given time.
During the campaign, Mrs Trump was a vocal critic of cyber bullying and said it was one area she would like to concentrate on.
