For a young man who has spent so much of his life kept fiercely out of the spotlight, Barron Trump made his TV debut at a shockingly young age.

He was just two months old when his proud parents allowed Gayle King – then working on The Oprah Winfrey Show – to come and coo over him in the baroque splendor of their $100 million penthouse in Trump Tower.

But first, Melania Trump dutifully gushed over her husband's paternal instincts: 'He's amazing, you know. He takes [Barron] in the morning when he wakes up. And he brings him in his room and they're watching TV together and they're reading the papers.'

Then it was off to baby Barron's grand nursery, a corner room with sweeping views of Manhattan and stuffed full of huge soft toys, where The Donald borrowed his son – dressed in a flouncy old-fashioned baby boy dress – from the nanny so he could hold him for the cameras.

'See the little delicate hands,' said the business tycoon who would one day be mocked over the small size of his own hands.

Then King got down to the tough questions.

'So Donald, you're not opposed to changing diapers, you just haven't had to do it,' she quizzed. 'But you know how to do it?'

'I would be able to do it, yes,' replied the father of five.

But before King had time to ask him to prove it, Barron started wailing and a relieved-looking Trump passed him back to his mother.

Eighteen years later, Barron is rather bigger – at 6'7, he looms over his 6'3 father – but still very much tied to Mom.

He comes of age today, after a high-profile childhood that, if physically pampered, cannot have been emotional plain-sailing with such a polarizing man for a dad.