First lady Melania Trump will make history on Monday when she takes the chair at the United Nations Security Council, becoming the first sitting first lady—and the first spouse of any world leader—to ever preside over the powerful body.
The United States assumed the rotating monthly presidency of the 15-member council for March, giving America the authority to shape the agenda and tone of the council’s proceedings for the coming weeks.
U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric confirmed the historic nature of the moment, telling reporters it “will be the first time a first lady, or first gentleman for that matter, has ever presided over a Security Council meeting.”
The first lady’s office released a statement saying the session she will preside over will “emphasize education’s role in advancing tolerance and world peace.”
A source close to the first lady told Fox News Digital that she plans to stress the role of education and knowledge in building long-term peace.
“The first lady is reinventing her role and this marks just another groundbreaking achievement for her,” the source told Fox News Digital.
“It is the first time in history a first lady will address the security council, keeping to her mission of empowering the next generation with education and technology.”
The Monday session will center on education, technology, peace and security — issues that align closely with the causes Melania Trump has championed throughout her time in the White House.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Michael Waltz expressed support for the first lady’s appearance before the council and drew a direct connection between her message and the administration’s larger foreign policy goals.
“It is fitting that the first lady, a passionate and tireless advocate for children, will preside over the first day of America’s presidency of the Security Council,” Waltz told Fox News Digital.
Waltz added: “Her message of helping the helpless through education and technology fits exactly with our mission at the U.N., to achieve meaningful and lasting peace. As a green beret and now diplomat, I have seen firsthand that peace prevails where children are taught and not terrorized.”
Dujarric described Melania Trump’s appearance as “a sign of the importance that the United States feels towards the Security Council and the subject.”
Children in conflict zones have been a central focus of Melania Trump’s second-term agenda.
She previously wrote a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin ahead of a summit with President Trump, later announcing that the effort contributed to a group of children displaced by the Russia-Ukraine war being reunited with their families.
During her second term, Melania Trump also championed the Take It Down Act, which was signed into law by President Trump in May 2025.
The legislation established federal penalties for internet abuse involving nonconsensual, explicit imagery.
The U.N. Security Council consists of 15 member states. Five serve as permanent members — the United States, China, France, the Russian Federation, and the United Kingdom.
The remaining 10 non-permanent members are elected to two-year terms and currently include Bahrain, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Denmark, Greece, Latvia, Liberia, Pakistan, Panama, and Somalia.
