Prince William Misses Open Goal as King Charles Sets One Up for Sir David Beckham

Prince William was left “hurt and angry” last week after his father stole the spotlight by delivering a headline-grabbing knighthood to ex-footballer David Beckham, at the same time as William’s Earthshot Prize was kicking off in Brazil.

William has spent five years turning the prize into his signature platform. Even though Beckham’s investiture was planned long in advance, the timing was seen as a snub, The Royalist has learned.

The decision by King Charles to knight Beckham on Tuesday, 14 years after his name was first floated for the honor, was greeted by William’s friends with disbelief.

“Of all weeks,” one of William’s friends told The Royalist, “this was the one week he needed the family to be pulling for him. Instead, it felt like they were pulling against him. He was left hurt and angry.”

The Earthshot Prize, conceived by William to fund climate innovation through five £1 million ($1.3 million) grants awarded annually, is the clearest articulation of how he intends to reign: practical, global, and apolitical. This year’s ceremony, held in Rio de Janeiro, was meant to signal both his maturity and his father’s trust, with William also representing King Charles at the COP30 environmental conference in Belém later in the week.

But instead of the seamless royal choreography William envisioned, his trip unraveled into a succession of distractions.

The Prince of Wales poses for a photo alongside representatives and leaders of Indigenous Peoples, who come from many different parts of Brazil and represent the different cultures and biomes of Brazil, during a visit to Museu Emilio Goeldi, Belem, which is the oldest museum in the Amazon, on the final day of his visit to Brazil. Since its founding in 1866, its activities have focused on the scientific study of the natural and sociocultural systems of the Amazon, as well as the dissemination of knowledge and collections related to the region. Situated in the centre of Belem, the museum is based in a botanical park with more than 3000 species, creating a green oasis within the city. Picture date: Friday November 7, 2025. (Photo by Aaron Chown/PA Images via Getty Images) — Prince William poses for a photo alongside representatives and leaders of Indigenous Peoples from many parts of Brazil, during a visit to Museu Emilio Goeldi, Belem, on the final day of his visit to Brazil. Aaron Chown/PA Images via Getty Images

“The family sabotaged it from beginning to end,” the William friend said. “It was pathetic, like the worst of the bad old days.”

On the day his plane landed, Prince Harry’s team announced a parallel, quasi–royal tour of Canada, scheduled—miraculously—to overlap with William’s itinerary. Meghan Markle’s news of her “return to acting” landed in The Sun midweek, derailing coverage of Earthshot.

“In any normal world,” one newspaper executive said, “William would have been the royal story of the week. But Beckham and Meghan’s comebacks swallowed the headlines. The entire British Royal press corps was in Brazil, and somehow none of it mattered.”

William is used to being irritated by the Sussexes; what stung him much more, The Royalist understands, was the competition from inside the tent.

“David Beckham had waited 15 years,” said a former courtier. “And they had to do it this week? When you think how gracious William had been, paying tribute to his father’s work in his speech, it’s a slap in the face.”

The king’s allies insist it was a coincidence without malice. “His Majesty is immensely proud of his son’s work,” a friend of King Charles told The Daily Beast. “Investitures are scheduled months in advance.”

Former England footballer David Beckham (L) poses next to his wife singer and fashion designer Victoria Beckham (R) with his medal after being appointed as a Knight Bachelor (Knighthood) for services to sport and charity at an investiture ceremony at Windsor Castle on November 4, 2025. (Photo by Andrew Matthews / POOL / AFP) (Photo by ANDREW MATTHEWS/POOL/AFP via Getty Images) — Former England footballer David Beckham and his wife, the singer and fashion designer Victoria Beckham, get on with the business of grabbing headlines at Beckham’s investiture. Arise, Sir David. Andrew Matthews/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

One friend of the king, however, did concede that there is an “increasingly delicate” father-son dynamic, dramatically worsened by William’s open contempt for the shambolic way his father dealt with the ex-Prince Andrew crisis and continues to handle the Harry issue.

Since the king’s cancer diagnosis, the balance of royal power has shifted. William is now increasingly demanding the right to lead long-term planning, public messaging, and—crucially—crisis management.

As the friend put it: “The change of reign is happening in real time, whether they admit it or not.”

Charles, however, has made it clear he has no intention of fading into the background. He insists on maintaining a full public schedule, sometimes to the alarm of Camilla and his doctors. He guards the symbols of kingship—audiences, investitures, the odd glittering photo call—as fiercely as ever. Friends say that having waited his whole life for this role, he’s not about to start taking instruction from anyone, even his son.

That defiance has spilled into more consequential matters—none more telling than the fate of Andrew. For years, Charles had dithered over how to deal with his disgraced brother, refusing to strip him of his HRH honorific title or push him out of Royal Lodge.

It was William who finally forced the issue.

“William’s view was simple,” says a friend of the Prince. “As long as Andrew remained a royal in any sense, the institution would never be clean. Charles kept saying it wasn’t possible or wasn’t the right time. William thought that was weak, and pushed for the nuclear option. He was right about Andrew and he is right about Harry too.”

King Charles III and Prince William's tense relationship is affecting the king's wishes to reconcile with Harry — King Charles III and Prince William have an increasingly tense relationship. Karwai Tang/WireImage

In the end, Andrew’s HRH went in a matter of days, revealing that the years of paralysis from Charles were a matter of a failure of political will, not legal strictures.

For William, it was proof that a lack of decisive leadership has damaged the monarchy. For Charles, it was another bruising reminder that his heir can now overrule him when it matters.

That tension—between the father who can’t relinquish power and the son who has already seized it—now defines their relationship.

The Beckham affair, trivial on its face, is the perfect metaphor. The king, ill but determined, still demands to be the headline act. The heir, already governing in many people’s minds, is trying to build something lasting in the space his father won’t vacate.

“The king sometimes feels he’s being airbrushed out of his own legacy,” one family friend said. “It’s not deliberate on William’s part, but there’s a cold professionalism about him. The message is: the future starts now. Charles finds that almost unbearable.”

In the Amazon, one of the unscripted remarks William delivered was about “the duty each generation owes the next.”

It seems William doesn’t think his father has got the message.

LONDON, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 8: Britain's Catherine, Princess of Wales, and Prince George arrive at the Royal Albert Hall for the Royal British Legion Festival of Remembrance, an annual event honouring military service members, which holds special significance in 2025 as it marks the 80th anniversary of the end of World War Two, at the Royal Albert Hall on November 8, 2025 in London, England. (Photo by Jack Taylor - WPA Pool / Getty Images) — Catherine, Princess of Wales, and son Prince George arrive at the Royal Albert Hall for the Royal British Legion Festival of Remembrance, an annual event honoring the military. It holds special significance in 2025 as it marks the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II. Jack Taylor/WPA Pool / Getty Images

The Future on Display: Prince George Steps In

With King Charles looking drawn and William absent, Prince George’s poised appearance at the Festival of Remembrance on Saturday signaled the family’s accelerated handover to the next generation.

It is an interesting glimpse of the future that arguably represented George’s first proper royal engagement.

He clearly understood the solemnity of the occasion and the role he had to play within the tableau. His composure was striking.

George has, of course, attended royal events before, but on Saturday, with the added poignancy of King Charles looking rather drained next to him, there was a clear sense of the heir’s heir deliberately being placed within the line of succession. His father William was absent, still making his way back from the Earthshot Prize in Brazil.

(L-R) Britain's Prince George of Wales, Britain's Catherine, Princess of Wales, Britain's King Charles III and Britain's Queen Camilla attend The Royal British Legion Festival of Remembrance event at the Royal Albert Hall, in London, on November 8, 2025 ahead of Remembrance Day commemorations. (Photo by Jack Taylor / POOL / AFP) (Photo by JACK TAYLOR/POOL/AFP via Getty Images) — Prince George of Wales, Catherine, Princess of Wales, King Charles III, and Queen Camilla attend The Royal British Legion Festival of Remembrance event at the Royal Albert Hall, London, Nov. 8, 2025. Jack Taylor/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

Palace aides will insist, as they always do, that George’s debut at the Remembrance service was long planned, but the king’s ongoing cancer has quietly accelerated the process of bringing his grandson into the wider royal picture.

The Princess of Wales wore a black Alessandra Rich dress with a white collar, a crafted poppy brooch, and earrings once worn by the late queen, as she guided her son to his seat.

Saturday night’s event commemorated the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II and the 25th anniversary of the lifting of the ban on gay, lesbian, and bisexual service members. Hannah Waddingham hosted, performing the song “We’ll Meet Again” and dedicating it to her veteran grandfather. The king and queen, seated beside the Princess of Wales and George, appeared moved, clapping warmly for the Chelsea Pensioners in their scarlet coats.

The message projected was clear: the dynasty holds, and the next generation is ready.

Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson — Andrew and Sarah Ferguson attend the 2025 Easter service. Karwai Tang/WireImage

Sarah Ferguson’s Entanglements

Journalist Michael Gillard’s Substack, The Upsetter, is recommended reading if you enjoy jaw-dropping tales of corruption and abuse of power in the British establishment.

Gillard has got a cracking exclusive this week: allegations that Sarah Ferguson held a private meeting with an undercover investigator in a desperate attempt to undermine allegations of sexual misconduct against ex-Prince Andrew.

Gillard paints a cinematic portrait of Ferguson meeting the private eye at an abandoned beauty spot during one of the Covid lockdowns as she sought to gather intel “to save her prince, and therefore herself.” Ferguson has categorically denied the meeting took place.

Private investigator Jonathan Rees—who, ironically, worked with the undercover reporter behind the cash-for-access sting that saw Ferguson offer access to Andrew for £500,000 in 2010—told The Upsetter that Fergie personally approached him in 2020, at the height of the Virginia Roberts Giuffre crisis, “to find out what case U.S. law enforcement was building against Andrew.”

Rees told The Upsetter that there were “a million and one reasons why they should not have come anywhere near me,” including that he was for many years the prime suspect in the vicious ax murder of his former business partner (he was acquitted in 2011).

191116-sykes-prince-andrew-embed2_s4vtai — Journalist Emily Maitlis questions Prince Andrew on the BBC program “Newsnight,” in 2019. The interview made headlines around the world. Screenshot/BBCNewsnight/Twitter

Ferguson’s actions came as she sought to defend Andrew after his BBC Newsnight interview on Nov. 16, 2019, in which he denied ever meeting, or abusing, Giuffre, then aged 17. Ferguson defended his famous “Pizza Express” alibi.

But in early 2020, with U.S. prosecutors pressing Andrew for co-operation, Rees claims that he was approached by Ferguson’s team and ultimately met with her.

He describes meeting at a car park near London during lockdown. Rees alleges that she said, “Jonathan, can you help me, can you help me and Andrew, we understand you’ve got contacts in the CIA, the FBI, NSI.”

He claims he told Ferguson that she was “misinformed,” about his contacts and said he wouldn’t help even if he could, “because you’d end up in an orange suit, chained up, hopping into an aeroplane.”

The encounter, he says, lasted two minutes.

The Upsetter sought comment from Andrew’s lawyer, Gary Bloxsome. He denied any contact between Rees and the firm, and forwarded a statement from Ferguson’s “representative” that said: “The Duchess categorically denies having ever met Mr Rees or had any contact whatsoever with him.”

Rees said he stood by his account.

Want more royal gossip, scoops and scandal? Head over to The Royalist on Substack

The post Prince William Misses Open Goal as King Charles Sets One Up for Sir David Beckham appeared first on The Daily Beast.

Prince William Misses Open Goal as King Charles Sets One Up for Sir David Beckham

The Future on Display: Prince George Steps In

Sarah Ferguson’s Entanglements

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