One Direction star Louis Tomlinson has shared the first picture of his newborn son Freddie online.

The 24 year old announced the birth at the weekend and thanked his 21.3 million followers for their support in Twitter posts on Wednesday.

The singer posted a black and white photo of him holding his son, accompanied by the words: “Meet my little lad, Freddie.”

It’s since been liked and retweeted hundreds of thousands of times.

Louis hinted the child will have his surname, tweeting simply “Freddie Tommo” before following it up by saying: “Thank you so much for the all nice messages.”

The selfie shows the star holding the boy, wearing a striped babygrow, to his bare, tattooed chest.

On Saturday Louis said: “I’m pleased to say my baby son was born yesterday. He is healthy and pretty amazing. I’m very happy.”

He briefly dated Freddie’s mother, Los Angeles-based stylist Briana Jungwirth, in May 2015 after he broke up with his long-term girlfriend Eleanor Calder.

Louis Tomlinson of One Direction has become a father for the first time(PA)

 

News of the pregnancy broke in August, although there has never been an official statement.

Louis is the first member of the boy band to become a father.

Read: Louis Tomlinson's snap of baby Freddie has made Directioners on Twitter lose their minds

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