When David Beckham confidently strode into his first-ever state banquet alongside his wife Victoria on Tuesday night, he seemed as though he belonged there.
The ex-footballer, 49, looked the part in his formal white tie as he mingled with King Charles, Queen Camilla and the Prince of Wales at the glittering event held for the Emir of Qatar and his wife.
But the three-course dinner is just the latest example of the former England captain, who has long been tipped for a knighthood, growing closer to the Royal Family.
He held a meeting with the King where they discussed their passion for beekeeping in May, became an ambassador to educational charity The King’s Foundation in June and helped Prince William raise funds for the London Air Ambulance in October.
However his deepening relationship with The Firm comes after his spectacular falling out with Prince Harry and Meghan over rumours of a ‘leaking’ spat dating back to 2018.
And with Harry becoming estranged from his family and abandoning Britain for California in 2020, some royal watchers have suggested there is now a ‘Harry-sized hole’ waiting to be filled.
They believe Beckham could be just the fit, pointing out he knows how to handle a press conference (and if needed a media backlash), looks good in a suit, and Victoria could bring the star power of the Spice Girls to any occasion.
From their plush home in the Cotswolds they could be on the M40 and at the Palace in little more than 90 minutes – a tad closer than Harry and Meghan across the Atlantic.
Perhaps the biggest example of things moving in the direction of ‘Prince Beckham’ was seen in May when King Charles held a private meeting with him – but snubbed his son Harry by saying he was too busy with ‘various other priorities’.
Here, MailOnline looks at Beckham’s spectacular falling out with Prince Harry and how he has become the royals new right-hand man.
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David and Victoria Beckham looked at home among the guests at a glittering state banquet in Buckingham Palace in honour of visiting Qatari royals on Tuesday night
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There have been suggestions that with Harry (pictured with Meghan in 2020) becoming estranged from his family and leaving Britain for the US, Beckham could become the royals’ right-hand man
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David Beckham met with King Charles to offer him a jar of his own home-produced honey during an industry showcase event in May
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His Majesty and Beckham shared a joke as they took pictures at Highgrove to announce the ex-footballer had become an ambassador for the The King’s Foundation in July
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Prince William is pictured with Beckham in front of one of the new London Air Ambulance Charity helicopters at RAF Northolt in October
David was once so close to Harry, 40, that he and his wife, Victoria, 50, were among the guests when the prince married Meghan Markle at St George’s Chapel, Windsor, in 2018.
The Beckhams, who have a combined fortune estimated at £455million, made a very generous gesture in the run-up to the Sussexes big day.
When Meghan returned to her native Los Angeles to find paparazzi camped outside her mother’s home, the Beckhams offered the former actress the use of their six-bedroom, Italian-style villa in the city, where she was waited on by their staff.
And after Meghan moved into Kensington Palace, Victoria, whose fashion label was expanding into beauty products, gave her advice on make-up and a member of her staff provided her with help on facials and hairdressing. Free of charge, of course.
When news of the Beckhams’ generosity made the Press, however, Meghan was said to be outraged.
The Beckhams denied that they had leaked any information but the reportedly hyper-sensitive Harry and Meghan became distrustful of them.
The Mail on Sunday was told in July 2023 that the accusation of leaking left David ‘absolutely bloody furious’.
And while David and Victoria did go on to attend Harry and Meghan’s wedding ceremony, they were not invited to the evening reception.
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Beckham was amongst distinguished guests at the Qatari state banquet. Pictured: King Charles and the Emir of Qatar led the royal procession, with Queen Camilla and the Emir’s wife Sheikha Jawaher behind
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David and Victoria Beckham were guests at Meghan’s wedding to Prince Harry at Windsor in 2018 (pictured)
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David and Victoria also went to the wedding of Prince William and Catherine in 2011
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Beckham is said to have bonded with the King over their shared love of beekeeping, after the ex-winger got stuck into the hobby during lockdown at his home in the Cotswolds
Instead, the Sussexes invited some showbusiness figures they barely knew, according to the Daily Mail’s Richard Eden.
Another royal expert claimed the move was a ‘near-unforgivable insult’, citing that many Hollywood stars who attended the dinner ‘were not friends’ with Harry or Meghan.
Despite that snub, David agreed to Harry’s request to fly to Australia, where he was hosting the Invictus Games, his celebrated competition for injured servicemen and women, later that year.
He made the arduous 22-hour journey from London to Sydney only to discover that the duke would not see him or even be pictured with him.
The reason, according to distinguished biographer Tom Bower, was Meghan. ‘She wanted no competition in the media from David,’ he wrote in his book, Revenge.
‘It seemed she was not prepared to tolerate anything flattering regarding the Beckhams and the Games to appear in the media.’
Regardless, the Beckhams seemingly tried to maintain a relationship with Harry and Meghan.
The couples were neighbours in Oxfordshire after the Beckhams built a home there and Harry rented a converted barn.
The biographer claims that while the men ‘occasionally met at weekends’, Meghan had already ‘put on airs’.
But when Harry and Meghan prepared to make their move to California and step away from royal life, the Beckhams refused to take sides in the row between them and Prince William and his wife Kate.
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Prince William, David Beckham and Prince Harry at an Football Association reception in Johannesburg in 2010
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Beckham got to know Prince William when they both played a part in the bid for the 2010 Fifa World Cup. Although the bid was unsuccessful, the pair stayed in touch
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A graphic showing how Beckham and the Sussexes relationship fell apart – from wedding invitation snubs and disagreements over designer clothing to fears of an upstaging
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(Left to right) Princess Beatrice, Prince Harry, Queen Elizabeth II and David Beckham at a reception for the Queen’s Young Leaders Awards at Buckingham Palace in June 2016
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Harry holds hands with Victoria Beckham at a Spice Girls concert in South Africa in 1997
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Charles III speaks to David Beckham as they attend The King’s Foundation charity’s inaugural awards at St James’s Palace in London on June 11, 2024
Beckham had previously got to know Prince William when they both played an important part in the bid for the 2010 Fifa World Cup. Although the bid was unsuccessful, the pair stayed in touch.
Mr Bower claimed their friendship ‘annoyed the Sussexes’.
Further evidence of the growing distance between the couples was seen when Meghan and Harry were not guests at the wedding of the Beckhams’ son Brooklyn to US heiress Nicola Peltz in April 2022.
The Sussexes alleged distaste towards the Beckham’s friendship with the then Duke and Duchess of Cambridge was furthered in 2023 when David flew from Qatar to Boston during the World Cup to help William and Kate with their philanthropic efforts.
US media highlighted the moment David kissed Kate on the cheek as she hosted the Earthshot prize ceremony alongside her husband.
The now Prince and Princess of Wales’s ceremony, which was attended by President Joe Biden, seemingly upstaged an event hosted by the Sussexes in New York that same weekend.
Mr Bower says the spat was again furthered in 2023 when the Beckhams hosted a star-studded celebration after Lionel Messi scored a last-minute goal for David’s football team in Miami, Florida.
Meghan and Harry were reportedly not invited to the party, which is understood to have carried on into the early hours.
David had always been an ardent royalist, who would stand up for the Queen’s Speech every Christmas dressed in his Sunday best. Years later, he queued for 12 hours to view the Queen’s coffin when her body was lying in state in Westminster.
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Meghan and Harry were not guests at the wedding of the Beckhams’ son Brooklyn to US heiress Nicola Peltz in April 2022 (pictured)
A-list guests seen at Brooklyn Beckham’s wedding to Nicola Peltz
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Prince Harry smiles with David Beckham at an FA reception in South Africa in 2010
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Prince William speaks with David Beckham at the Bafta Film Awards on February 18, 2024
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David Beckham stands with his wife Victoria, as he shows off the OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) he received from Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace in 2003
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Victoria Beckham receives her OBE from Prince William at Buckingham Palace in 2017
So it is perhaps no surprise that the Sussexes’ attacks on the Royal Family failed to impress the Beckhams.
‘Both David and Victoria put great importance on family and would never, ever turn on their relations the way that Harry and Meghan did,’ one of their associates told Richard Eden in October.
‘The truth is that Victoria never really liked Meghan much. She was friendly and welcoming to her but is not bothered about staying in touch.’
Given that Beckham owns a football club in Miami and the couple have an increasingly prominent position in American society, it might seem natural that they would join the court of Harry and Meghan.
But they instead stuck with the Windsors and have been growing closer ever since.
Prince Harry himself admitted the Royal Family needs a supporting ‘Spare’ to the monarch, and with him stepping aside there could be space on the stage for another.
Caitlin Moran wrote in a Times column in May that the Duke of Sussex ‘could easily be replaced by the Duke of Sex’, referencing Beckham’s habit of regularly topping polls as the World’s Sexiest Man.
She writes that ‘we can never underestimate the extent to which royalty is essentially showbiz’ and that King Charles choosing to meet Beckham instead of Harry was an example of him acting like ‘a million film directors before him’.
‘If one of your key cast members is proving difficult, simply be seen lunching with one of their greatest rivals’, she wrote.
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Beckham endured the lengthy queue to pay his respects to Queen Elizabeth inside Westminster Hall in September 2022
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Visiting the Snowdon School of Furniture in July where students are taught specialist woodworking skills under The King’s Foundation at Highgrove
The Beckham’s star power has never been in doubt, with their eponymous Netflix documentary hitting the top spot for global viewing with a whopping 43.9million views between July and December last year.
In comparison, Harry and Meghan’s docuseries limped in with just 1.9million views across the same period and 12.6million total views.
When it first aired in December 2022 the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s docuseries was an instant hit, giving Netflix its biggest debut with 81.6million hours viewed in the first four days.
But after an initial frenzy figures began a steady slide as millions of viewers lost interest and the series lost traction well before the sixth episode aired.
The show slumped to 211 on the streaming platform’s global chart while ‘Beckham’ was No 1, with 208.5million hours viewed in the first two months alone.
MailOnline’s chief investigative reporter Laura Collins wrote: ‘The disparity is perhaps due in part to the fact that fans who had tuned into Harry and Meghan’s docuseries hoping for insight and intimacy were instead left tired by their relentlessly “woe is me” tone.
‘Viewers complained about the couple’s self-absorption and the fact that for all their enviable privilege they seemed to do nothing but bemoan their lot.
‘In stark contrast, “Beckham” was a show that left viewers uplifted by the Beckham’s family life, relationship and work ethic. Fans raved at the couple’s resilience and marvelled at their self-effacing grit and ambition.’
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The Beckham’s star power has never been in doubt, with their eponymous Netflix documentary hitting the top spot for global viewing with a whopping 43.9million views between July and December last year
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Meanwhile, Harry and Meghan’s show slumped to 211 on the streaming platform’s global chart while ‘Beckham’ was No 1 in the summer with 3.5 times the viewing figures
Perhaps it came as no surprise, then, that when King Charles announced in June that David would become an ambassador for the King’s Foundation, formerly the Prince’s Foundation, it was a sign for many that the charity was being rejuvenated.
The educational foundation had been embroiled in controversy following claims of ‘cash for access’ after allegations that its chief executive offered to secure a Saudi billionaire a knighthood and UK citizenship in return for donations.
However with Beckham in tow the charity, which offers educational programmes to up to 15,000 people a year to create sustainable communities, was seen as finding a new lease of life.
Prince William has been following his father’s lead and growing closer with the Beckhams, too.
In November Richard Eden revealed the Prince of Wales had appointed David Beckham’s former public relations chief as the new Head of Communications for his landmark Homewards initiative to help end homelessness.
More clues of the Beckham’s blossoming relationship with the heir to the throne, and corresponding distance from the Sussexes, were seen through his son Brooklyn.
In November the 25-year-old appeared on a TV show to discuss his friendship with Selena Gomez and plug his new hot sauce – but conversation swiftly turned to his famed family’s close friendship with royalty.
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Brooklyn Beckham ignored the mention of Prince Harry and Meghan on a TV show in November and instead told the host William was ‘the sweetest guy ever’
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David Beckham, his son Brooklyn (left) and Prince William applaud Ryan Giggs’s goal at Wembley Stadium during the 2012 Olympics
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Charles talks to Beckham and his son Brooklyn at the Global Premiere of Our Planet in London on April 4, 2019
He was asked by the host: ‘Growing up, which members of the royal family did you see most often, especially since your family is friends with Harry and Meghan?’
Ignoring the mention of the California-based Royals, Beckham responded: ‘Probably William.’ The host then asked: ‘Yeah? What’s he like, is there something about him people don’t get? Is he fun?’
Beckham said: ‘He’s just, like, the sweetest guy ever. He really is. He’s really down to earth. He’s a really good guy.’ The stunned host simply replied: ‘Wow.’
Meanwhile, David appeared to be happy with his choice of royal friends at the Qatari State Banquet on Tuesday night.
The senior royals present included Princess Anne, who was seated on the top table with the King, Queen and Prince of Wales, as well as the Qatari dignitaries. The Duke and Duchesses of Edinburgh and Gloucester were also present.
It is understood that Beckham was invited to the lavish dinner because of his previous role as an ambassador for the 2022 Qatar World Cup.
Former Spice Girl Victoria – sealing her stratospheric rise from pop stardom to the seat of power – was sat even closer to the ‘top table’ than her husband.
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On Tuesday night the Beckhams were among the 170 guests in the Buckingham Palace ballroom for the Qatari state banquet
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King Charles and Queen Camilla joined the Emir of Qatar and his wife for a photograph on the steps of Buckingham Palace ahead of a lavish state banquet on Tuesday
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If the state banquet was anything to go by, Beckham seems suited to the royal limelight
The presence of the Beckhams at the event will surely only add fuel to the fire of speculation that David will be knighted in the near future.
During a short speech at The King’s Foundation awards ceremony in June, Sir Rod Stewart teased Beckham that his knighthood would be ‘coming soon’ after the singer received his own in 2016.
Social media users seemed to agree, suggesting it is time that Beckham, who earned 115 caps for his country and helped secure the London 2012 Olympics, is recognised appropriately. He was previously awarded an OBE for his services to football in 2003.
And with Harry not looking like he will be returning to royal duties anytime soon, could it be that Sir David Beckham steps up as the Royal Family’s right-hand man in the future?
If the state banquet was anything to go by, he seems suited to the royal limelight.
