Barron Trump: What we know about Donald Trump’s youngest son

Former president’s only son with third wife Melania expected to attend university after graduating from Oxbridge Academy in Florida

Donald Trump’s youngest son Barron Trump, 18, will graduate from high school in Florida on Friday 17 May, with his father permitted a day off from his New York hush money trial to attend the ceremony.

Long shielded from the spotlight by his mother Melania Trump, Barron was dragged into the headlines last month when Mr Trump complained bitterly that the judge presiding over the trial would not allow him to attend the event, betraying his willingness to use members of his family as political pawns.

The Republican presidential candidate emerged from the courtroom on its very first day on Monday 15 April to complain to reporters that Judge Juan Merchan had insisted he must be in court and could not be present for the milestone event in his son’s life.

His fury was soon echoed by members of the conservative media, with Fox News guest Piers Morgan urging the former president to risk jail time rather than miss such an important occasion.

But, in fact, the judge had not actually said anything of the sort, remarking merely that he expected Mr Trump to attend court every day of his trial like any other criminal defendant, as required by law, and that he would rule on permitting him an off-day closer to the date, depending on how the case before him was proceeding.

Two weeks later, on Tuesday 30 April, the judge ruled that he would allow Mr Trump to attend the graduation ceremony after all, declaring himself satisfied that the trial was running to schedule.

Barron Trump with his parents Donald and Melania Trump and his grandfather Viktor Knavs at the funeral of his grandmother Amalija Knavs in Palm Beach, Florida, on 18 January 2024 (AFP/Getty)

The fifth full week of the trial is now underway, where the former president is charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records to conceal a $130,000 payment made to adult film star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election to buy her silence about an alleged sexual encounter in July 2006. The defendant denies the affair and has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

After being dragged into his father’s trial over the graduation furore, Barron was then reported to be enrolled as a delegate-at-large to the Republican National Convention in Wisconsin in July representing the Sunshine State, only for his mother’s office to put out a statement saying that while he was “honoured” to be chosen, he “regretfully” could not accept.

Barron would have joined his older half-siblings Donald Trump Jr, Eric Trump and Tiffany Trump among the state’s 41 delegates and Mr Trump himself did not appear to object.

“He’s pretty young, I will say. He’s 17,” Mr Trump said in an interview with Telemundo 51 Miami, appearing to get his son’s age wrong.

“But if they can do that, I’m all for it.”

So who is Barron Trump and what do we know about him?

Barron William Trump was born on 20 March 2006 and is Mr Trump’s only child with his third wife.

He was baptised at the Episcopal Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea in Palm Beach, Florida – the same venue he returned to in January for the funeral of his maternal grandmother, Amalija Knavs.

The youngest of all of the former president’s children, Barron was raised at Trump Tower in Manhattan and attended the affluent borough’s Columbia Grammar and Preparatory School.

Barron was still a child when his father won the presidency in November 2016 and entered the White House.

Although he did attend his father’s inauguration in January 2017, he was largely restrained from public view by his mother, who initially did not join her husband in Washington DC but chose to stay behind in New York so that her son could finish his elementary school year.

A young Barron Trump joins his parents on the White House balcony to observe a solar eclipse on 21 August 2017 (AFP/Getty)

The first lady’s protective attitude was more than justified given that, incredibly, he was attacked by The Daily Caller, aged just 11, over his choice of clothes.

A bizarre August 2017 article in the Caller argued that Barron should be “dressing like he is in the White House”, rather than wearing a harmless red shark T-shirt in public like any other kid his age.

Having taken his Columbia Grammar classmates on a tour of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Barron was subsequently enrolled in St Andrew’s Episcopal School, a private institution in Potomac, Maryland.

There, he was largely allowed to pursue his education in peace until his father lost the 2020 presidential election, at which point the family relocated to Mr Trump’s sprawling Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.

Barron then enlisted at the nearby Oxbridge Academy in 2021, the institution from which he will graduate this week.

Barron Trump with his mother Melania Trump and grandparents sitting in the front row as his father announces that he would once again run for the presidency (Reuters)

Little else is currently known about the youngest Trump, although he is understood to be fluent in Slovenian thanks to his mother’s influence and a keen soccer fan.

He has been seen wearing an Arsenal shirt and met DC United players when they came to the White House for the annual Easter Egg Roll in April 2017.

As for what Barron Trump might do next, his father told journalist Megyn Kelly in September 2023 that his son was “thinking about” attending the University of Pennsylvania, where Mr Trump and three of his children studied.

Rumours have also indicated that Barron could attend New York University in Manhattan, where he grew up, according to The Daily Beast.

However, Barron’s plans appear to have changed, with Mr Trump most recently remarking at a Mar-a-Lago NFT event, according to Newsweek: “Right now, he’s doing a great job. He has great marks.

“He’s going to be going to college soon. And we’re looking at some colleges that are different [than] they were two months ago.”