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Barron Trump becomes the first White House son in 50 years

Gemma Strong
Online Digital News Director
January 19, 2017
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At just ten-years-old, Barron Trump is about to make history. The only child of Donald and Melania Trump will become the first presidential son in the White House in more than 50 years when the family move into the famous Washington residence.

Since 1963, only presidential daughters have roamed the halls of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Barron will become the first boy since John F Kennedy Jr, whose father was assassinated in 1963, just three days before his third birthday. Tragically, John was himself killed, along with his wife Carolyn and elder sister Lauren, in a plane crash in 1999, aged 38.

jfk1© Photo: Getty Images

Barron Trump is the first presidential son since John F Kennedy Jr, pictured playing in the Oval Office in 1963

Barron is set to inhabit rooms that – until this week – have been home to Malia and Sasha Obama for the past eight years. Prior to that, George and Laura Bush's twin daughters, Barbara and Jenna, were America's First Children, a position they inherited from Bill and Hillary Clinton's only daughter Chelsea Clinton.

The Reagan and Bush children, meanwhile, were already grown by the time their fathers were elected.

jfk2© Photo: Getty Images

John Jr and his wife Carolyn were tragically killed in a plane crash in 1999

Unlike his predecessors, Barron will not be moving into the White House immediately. His mother has confirmed that the pair will remain at the family home in Trump Tower, New York, for at least six months so that her son can see out the rest of his school year without disruption.

Everything you need to know about Barron Trump

There have been two sets of school children living at the White House in the past three decades; Chelsea, who was 12 at the time, and Malia and Sasha, who were ten and eleven respectively.

obamas© Photo: Getty Images

Malia and Sasha Obama have spent the past eight years calling the White House home

Like Barron, they also had to move across the country when their fathers became president, but all three lived in the White House from the day of the inauguration.

Barack and Michelle Obama addressed the issue of their girls having to change school by moving to Washington early, allowing Malia and Sasha to start at a new school a few weeks before their dad was inaugurated in January 2009.

Melania has made it clear from the start that her son comes first – throughout her husband's campaign, she stayed at home to care for her child. And both she and Donald will no doubt work hard to ensure that Barron feels at home at the White House, which has proven it can be both a symbolic landmark and a happy family home.

chelsea clinton© Photo: Getty Images

Chelsea Clinton was 12-years-old when her father was elected president

"The surprising truth is that being in the White House has made our family life more 'normal' than it's ever been," Barack said in an interview with US magazine More earlier this year.

Former First Daughter Chelsea Clinton agrees. "I was always deeply aware that I was living in history," she told the Huffington Post. "But then I would have dinner with my parents at the kitchen table every night. There was so much about my life that also was normal."

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