Who is Eric Trump? All you need to know about Donald Trump's second-born son

Donald Trump's second-born son Eric Trump has announced that he and his wife Lara are expecting their first child, a boy. He will be the US President's ninth grandchild.

Early life

Born in 1984, Eric, now 33, is the third and youngest of Trump's children with his first wife, Ivana Trump, whom he divorced in 1992.

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Eric grew up in New York and attended the city's exclusive Trinity School, whose former students include novelist Truman Capote, cellist Yo Yo Ma and tennis player John McEnroe.

Eric later transferred to the Hill School, a boarding school in Pennsylvania, following in the footsteps of his older brother, Donald Jr.

"Donnie's always been my best friend, a mentor," Eric told the New York Times in 2009. "In a way, he raised me. My father, I love and I appreciate, but he always worked 24 hours a day."

The three siblings spent their childhood summers far from the gold-plated world of Trump Tower, visiting their grandparents in Czechoslovakia, "a pastoral blue-collar environment in the last throes of communism," says the Washington Post. "You lived a life that wasn't what you saw in the US," Eric told the Post.

The simple values instilled by their grandparents seem to have made an impression on Eric. A friend who studied with him at Washington D.C's Georgetown University told the Post that "Eric has Trump genes, but he doesn't have the Trump brand", describing him as "less bombastic, more thoughtful" and "less self-aggrandising, more humble" than his father.

Family firm

After graduating, Eric joined the family business. He is currently the Trump Organisation's executive vice president of development and acquisitions, specialising in buying up and renovating golf courses.

Eric has been under intense media scrutiny since he and his brother, Donald Jr., were nominated by their father to manage the Trump Organisation for the duration of his presidency.

In an attempt to stave off conflict of interest accusations, Donald Trump placed his business holdings in a "blind trust", an arrangement that gives the trustees – in this case Eric and Donald Jr – full control over the business.

The arrangement has troubled ethics experts and a recent interview with Eric will do nothing to assuage their concerns.

Speaking to Forbes, Eric said that he and his brother had made a "steadfast pact" with their father to maintain a clear line between the Trump administration and the Trump Organisation.

"I do not talk about the government with him, and he does not talk about the business with us," he said.

However, "less than two minutes later," says Forbes, "he concedes that he will continue to update his father on the business while he is in the presidency".

Personal life and controversies

In July 2014, Eric proposed to his girlfriend, TV producer Lara Lea Yunaska, after a six-year courtship. In November that year, the pair married in a lavish ceremony at the Trump-owned Mar-A-Lago resort in Florida – now frequently in the headlines as President Trump's 'Southern White House'.

Eric has received recognition for his charity fundraising, which began when he set up the Eric Trump Foundation aged 23.

Over the past decade, the foundation has raised more than $16m (£13.8m) for St Jude's hospital in Tennessee, which specialises in treating children with cancer.

Eric has been widely criticised for his love of trophy hunting. Photos from a trip to Zimbabwe in 2011 showing Eric and Donald Jr. grinning alongside dead elephants, leopards and crocodiles attracted the ire of animal lovers and animal rights organisations including Peta.