Just when Meghan Markle and Prince Harry might have thought they had navigated enough family drama, they’ve found themselves entangled in yet another highly publicized feud—this time involving the Beckhams.
For Brooklyn Beckham (son of English-born soccer player David and his wife Victoria, the designer formerly known as Posh Spice) and his wife actress Nicola Peltz (daughter of billionaire MAGA investor Nelson Peltz, credited/blamed for introducing Elon Musk to the president) have fallen out in dramatic style with the rest of the Beckham clan.
The U.K. tabloids, who essentially regard the Beckhams as the next best thing to royals themselves, have seized upon this story, gleefully drawing parallels between the Beckham and Sussex family feud.
See, for example, star columnist Liz Jones in the Daily Mail: “Meghan and Nicola are ruthless troublemakers who have ripped weak manchildren Harry and Brooklyn from their families.”
Matters came to a head last weekend when Brooklyn and Nicola snubbed David’s 50th birthday celebration, juicing afresh the long-standing rumors of a bitter rift between Brooklyn’s wife Nicola and her in-laws, with reports suggesting Nicola and Victoria Beckham have clashed repeatedly since Nicola married into the family in April 2022. One source of conflict, apparently, is that Nicola regularly reminds Victoria she is “old” (51).
The comparison to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s rift is unavoidable. A high-profile son, beloved by the public, marrying a woman scapegoated by some as “difficult.” Estrangement from immediate family ensues.
As misogynistic and subjective as a narrative painting the women as the catalysts for discord may be, one can well imagine the delight of editors at the Sun when they landed a story this week saying that Brooklyn and Nicola had been to dinner, at home, with Harry and Meghan. The Sun wasted no time characterizing the dinner as a “summit” at which the two women offered each other for comfort and support.
It subsequently turned out this was pushing things quite a bit; in fact the dinner, far from being a four way tete-a-tete for scorned sons and their wives, was an 18-person event and sources close to Harry and Meghan briefed People magazine that a) Brooklyn and Nicola weren’t invited “directly” by Harry and Meghan and b) that the dinner took place before Brooklyn’s absence at David’s birthday.
The reluctance of everyone involved to be associated with the narrative is understandable. Harry and Meghan’s ill-tempered departure from royal duties, his memoir Spare, the explosive Netflix documentary series and Harry’s recent BBC interview have all served not only to widen the gulf between him and his family but have also left his and Meghan’s popularity in the U.K. plumbing new depths. The last thing they need is to be portrayed as fomenting a nest of resentment against generally well-regarded role models back in the U.K.
Still, the story is likely to continue to prove irresistible to U.K. tabloids not least because David Beckham and Prince Harry once shared a strong friendship. Beckham was seen as a good influence on Harry in his wilder days, and they had several nights out, with William, in London.
However, their relationship reportedly soured significantly when Harry and Meghan accused David and Victoria Beckham of leaking stories about them to the media (sounds familiar, palace courtiers would say). The Beckhams strongly denied the accusations, but the damage was done. The falling out was detailed in the author Tom Bower’s book Revenge.
David and Victoria Beckham appear to have decided on which side their bread is buttered, anyway. Beckham recently appeared with King Charles, enthusiastically discussing bee keeping and conservation, a topic the king passionately supports, while Kate Middleton stepped out in a chic Victoria Beckham dress this week, which felt like a not particularly subtle way of showing whose side she is on.
Harry and Meghan’s involuntary entanglement in the Beckhams’ internal conflicts mirrors and amplifies the ongoing narrative about Harry; estranged from his family and so alienated from long-time friends that he doesn’t even know they have moved home.
While PR 101 dictates that neither couple sought this bizarre intersection of family dramas, the extraordinary parallels seem set to continue generating waves of damaging headlines in the ongoing saga of Harry and Meghan’s exit from the royal family.
All that the saga lacks is a nickname for the Beckhams’ civil war. Harry and Meghan’s became Megxit. Anyone for Brexit?
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