The Sussexes once seemed to have a close relationship with David and Victoria Beckham – but it all turned sour with an awkward phonecall. We take a look back at where it all went wrong…
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have reportedly hosted Brooklyn Beckham and Nicola Peltz for a private dinner at their Montecito home in California, amid ongoing tensions within the Beckham family.
The meet-up was said to have been arranged before the fallout within the Beckham family, with Brooklyn and Nicola notably skipping all of dad David’s recent 50th birthday celebrations. It’s been suggested the two couples “found a lot of common ground,” with Prince Harry and Meghan practically estranged from the most of the royals.
Prince Harry and Meghan are now said to be “secretly supporting” Brooklyn and Nicola, according to The Sun. The surprising development follows reports that Prince Harry had once been pals with David, though the relationship seemingly soured after an awkward suspicion from Meghan. We take a look back at their former friendship – and subsequent falling out.
As the former England football captain, David first crossed paths with Prince Harry many years ago. And at the start of Harry’s relationship with Meghan, David and Victoria were said to have reached out to support the former actress when she first moved to London.
At the time it was reported that Victoria had lent Meghan her all-important little black book of her favourite hairdressers and stylist in the capital. Further details of their friendship were then shared in the press – and it was this that led to the first fallout between the couples.
Meghan reportedly suspected Victoria had ‘leaked’ the stories – promoting a ‘mortifying’ phone conversation between their husbands. A source told The Sun at the time: “Harry was very polite, but obviously it was a pretty awkward exchange and David was mortified. Inexplicably, [Meghan] feared Victoria was behind it — I mean, the idea that Victoria Beckham would be personally ringing journalists to give them a scoop is ridiculous — and spoke to Harry about it.
“Harry is very protective of Meghan, and decided to deal with the matter head-on, by directly contacting his good pal, David. He quickly put Harry right, and the two men agreed to move on — but it certainly made things awkward for a while.”
David and Victoria were on the guest list for Harry and Meghan’s wedding, however. The couple joined the pair’s friends, family, and fellow A-listers at St George’s Chapel on 19 May 2018. But, according to reports, they were only invited to the ceremony – and not the reception afterwards, which is said to have irked the Beckhams.
In October that same year, the Sussexes headed off on a tour of Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific, which coincided with the 2018 Invictus Games in Sydney. Harry had asked David to be an ambassador for the Invictus Games and the former footballer travelled Down Under to show his support for the event.
But things reportedly turned sour when the Prince inexplicably refused to see David in Sydney. It was claimed that the reason Harry was keeping his friend at arms’ length was Meghan – who still feared Victoria was leaking stories about her to the press.
Despite that, David initially said he was ‘proud’ of Harry following the announcement in 2020 that he and Meghan were stepping down from the royal family .
Speaking to Entertainment Tonight , David described Harry as an “amazing” person. “We love him,” he said, speaking on behalf of his wife, Victoria. “But I’m proud to see him growing up as an individual and being that person that every father wants to be.”
However, following their exit, Harry and Meghan made numerous public attacks on the royal family – and the monarchy, something likely to have upset David, an ardent royalist who famously queued for 12 hours to pay his respects to the Queen as she lay in state.
Since then, the couples have kept their distance. In 2022 when David and Victoria’s eldest son Brooklyn married actress Nicola in a lavish wedding in Florida, Harry and Meghan were nowhere to be seen.
And when David welcomed football superstar Lionel Messi to his Inter Miami team, a star-studded crowd were in attendance for his debut. But again the Sussexes weren’t there.
One issue between the Sussexes and the Beckhams could be David’s close connection to Prince William and King Charles.
Like Harry, William has known David and Victoria for many years and the Beckhams were in Westminster Abbey when he married Kate Middleton back in 2011.
In 2022, David joined both William and Kate when they travelled to Boston for the Prince of Waleses’ second annual Earthshot Prize awards, where he presented one of the prizes at one of William’s main projects. And just last year, David was named a King’s Foundation ambassador .
Just this week, Victoria also received a major show of support from the royals when Princess Kate stepped out wearing a stylish olive trouser suit from Victoria’s fashion brand.
In response to Kate’s outfit choice, a source close to the Beckhams said: “The Princess of Wales has worn Victoria’s designs before and it’s really great to see that she’s wearing one again, especially as the outfit was not gifted and was very much her own call to wear it. Both couples support each other’s charities and David and William are friends too, so there is a great deal of mutual respect there.”
Kate’s show of support for Victoria’s brand will be a big boost for the former Spice Girl. Victoria is said to be ‘heartbroken’ after a falling out with daughter-in-law Nicola Peltz . Earlier this month, reports of a rift between Brooklyn Beckham and the rest of his family were further fuelled when the 26-year-old failed to show up with Nicola to his dad’s 50th bash in Notting Hill, despite being in London at the time.
A source close to Brooklyn and Nicola later claimed that Victoria and David “refused” to see the couple privately ahead of the birthday do, even though they had “travelled all the way to London specifically to try to repair the relationship”. Meanwhile, the Beckhams’ friends have reacted with fury after Nicola’s pals made a series of extraordinary claims about the reason why the rift between Brooklyn and his family emerged .
A pal has suggested that there is “emotional abuse and toxic behaviour” between the family which is why the four are unable to get along. However, David and Victoria reject the claims and are outraged by the suggestions.
A source close to the Beckhams said: “I don’t think anyone who has ever seen David and Victoria with their children would recognise this deeply unpleasant attack. It doesn’t even warrant a response, it’s so ludicrous and patently untrue.”A second source told The Mirror that the couple have been left “open mouthed” after hearing the suggestions.
