Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un landed and left Singapore in a relative huff after a whirlwind couple of days that culminated in a historic handshake and signing of documents.

Conspicuously absent from the trip were the spouses of both leaders.

While little will be known about the whereabouts of Kim's wife, Ri Sol-ju, here’s what we know about Melania Trump, wife of the President of the United States of America and why she didn't make it to Singapore.

Melania out of action

News actually broke weeks before that Melania Trump would be missing both the G-7 and Singapore Trump-Kim summits due to a kidney procedure.

Trump had made a statement that Melania had undergone a "big operation" that would prevent her from attending both events.

She would, it was stated, be staying in the White House under strict "doctor’s orders".

Timeline:

May 10

The 48-year-old First Lady has not been seen in public since May 10th when she and Trump visited a military base in Maryland to welcome home three Americans who had been released from detention in North Korea.

May 10, 2018 was also the first time the Trump-Kim summit was publicly mooted as a thing.

May 14

Four days later, the White House announced that Melania had successfully undergone an “embolisation” procedure to treat a benign kidney condition.

No complications have been reported so far.

She had spent five nights at Walter Reed National Military Medical Centre in nearby Bethesda, Maryland.

And after this, Melania disappeared from public view.

May 30

Melania tweeted via the First Lady of the United States Twitter account that she is well:

I see the media is working overtime speculating where I am & what I'm doing. Rest assured, I'm here at the @WhiteHouse w my family, feeling great, & working hard on behalf of children & the American people!

— Melania Trump (@FLOTUS) May 30, 2018

June 9

Trump assured the public that Melania was doing well after his wife wasn't seen in public as often.

He also revealed new details about her closely-guarded medical condition.

She had reportedly undergone a four-hour operation and her recovery was stopping her from travelling abroad with him for the two important events.

Melania had also provided strict instructions to her East Wing aides to keep her medical condition as confidential as possible. This included withholding information about why she stayed at Walter Reed National Medical Center for five days.

Doctors familiar with the procedure have said that patients are typically discharged the same day or the next following this procedure. Not surprisingly, this sparked public and media speculation.

June 11

Melania makes her official comeback one day before the Trump-Kim summit:

Thank you @Fordstheatre & the talented performers for a special evening celebrating the arts & the legacy of former President Lincoln. Congratulations to @jacknicklaus & Sheila Johnson, the recipients of the Lincoln Medal! pic.twitter.com/EEJLhLn5qb

— Melania Trump (@FLOTUS) June 11, 2018

She attended the annual gala celebrating President Abraham Lincoln at Ford’s Theatre on Sunday, where she served as an honorary chair.

President Trump provided incorrect information

To add fuel to the fire, it became apparent that some of the information provided by the president turned out to be incorrect.

After the procedure, Trump had told the public that his wife would be home from the hospital in two to three days.

However, she ended up staying for five and her East Wing was given strict instructions from her to withhold information as to why.

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Doctor explains why

In addition to this, Dr Kelvin Hong, director of the Johns Hopkins Interventional Radiology Center, said a four-hour operation as stated by Trump, would be unusual to treat Melania’s described condition.

He stated that the procedures are more likely to range from one to two hours.

However, he did add that the president could have been considering pre-surgery and post-surgery preparation and treatment, alongside the actual embolisation procedure itself.

He also appeared to gently defend the president’s mistake: "There's no question that family members can sometimes feel as if the procedure is something of that magnitude", Hong said,"from the time the patient departs the pre-procedure area until the time they see the patient again."