Robert Trump's funeral to be held at White House on Friday

Several dozen of his family members are expected to attend service

A funeral service for President Donald Trump‘s younger brother, Robert Trump, will be held at the White House on Friday afternoon.

Last Friday, the president announced that his younger brother had died at the age of 71 at the New York-Presbyterian Hospital, after a spell in care for an unspecified illness.

Although he did not reveal the cause of his brother’s death, Mr Trump told reporters on Friday that his brother had been “having a hard time” over the past few months.

White House officials confirmed to CNN that the service will be held in the East Room, and that staff are expecting “several dozen” of his family members to attend, after around 200 were invited, according to ABC News.

Robert Trump’s body will be driven to the White House from New York on Friday, and the service will be paid for by the president out of his own pocket, another White House source told CNN.

On Monday, Mr Trump said that he wanted to host a service for his brother at the White House, and claimed that he was proud of the work he was doing as US president.

“We’re looking at Friday. And we may do just a small service right here in the White House for my brother. We’re looking at doing that,” he said.

“I think he’d be greatly honoured. He loves our country. He loved our country so much. He was so proud of what we were doing and what we are doing for our country,” he added.

It is rare for the White House to host a funeral service, but the East Room was last used for former president John F Kennedy following his assassination in 1963.

The East Room of the White House was last used to hold a funeral for someone who was not a president in 1936, when Franklin D Roosevelt hosted a service for his political adviser Louis Howe.

Mr Trump visited his brother in hospital in New York prior to his death, and released a statement over the weekend, where he said: “He was not just my brother, he was my best friend. He will be greatly missed, but we will meet again.

“His memory will live on in my heart forever. Robert, I love you. Rest in peace.”