Dad buys newborn son a $2.8m yacht and $34.6k worth of clothes

From cuddly toys to blankets, it's fairly commonplace for a newborn to be showered with gifts, mostly of the practical or sentimental kind. But one father opted for a slightly different strategy when it came to buying his newborn son a present.

Barrie Drewitt-Barlow, 52, welcomed his son Romeo Tarquin on Monday (12 Aug) alongside his fiancé Scott Hutchinson, 27.

Instead of the usual baby toys, books and nappies, the new parents took the opportunity to shower their little one in swag, including a colossal $34.6K wardrobe jam-packed with designer clothes.

And this isn't just a handful of garments.

Drewitt-Barlow revealed that he has already “literally bought every designer that you can imagine” for baby Romeo.

Listing the various high-end retail brands, the 52-year-old added: "Burberry, Versace, Dior, Tommy Hilfiger, Ralph Lauren – if a designer sells baby clothes we have snapped them up."

Not only have the two, who began dating back in 2019, spent thousands of dollars on tiny clothes and even tinier shoes, but they've also bought little Romeo a whopping $2.8 million yacht.

He continued: “It is currently in Miami where Saffron [my eldest daughter] is boarding with her new boyfriend and heading over to Cuba and the surrounding islands for two weeks."

Explaining their decision to spend millions on their newborn baby, Drewitt-Barlow added: “We want to give him the same start in life as the other kids so we have set up a trust fund for him.

"Tony [my ex] gifted him $1.15 million and I matched it for him, we will obviously build up a nice portfolio of things for him over the next few years," the new father revealed.

Drewitt-Barlow has appeared on season two of the reality television show Below Deck alongside his ex-husband, Tony Drewitt-Barlow, 56.

While they have since split, the two TV stars share a combined fortune of over $204 million.

Romeo is the couple's second child together after they welcomed their first, Valentina, in October 2020.

It's clear that Valentina also received the same treatment as her baby brother, alongside her half-sister Saffron, Drewitt-Barlow's daughter with his ex.

“Before he was born, our eldest daughter Saffron spent over $11,500 on clothes,” he said.

The father recounted: "The moment he was born, another $23K – she has totally gone over the top."