[Image: Wikimedia Commons]
David Beckham’s journey to knighthood has been anything but smooth.
It’s been a saga packed with red carpets, royal invites, a few dodgy tax schemes, hacked emails filled with C-bombs, and some old-school queueing for the Queen, in other words: classic Becks – glossy on the surface, chaotic underneath.
Finally, the 50-year-old soccer star is set to be awarded a knighthood in King Charles’ Birthday Honours. He has been told he is now in line to receive further recognition for both his football career and his contributions to British society, with the list of recipients to be published next week.
As arguably the UK’s most famous sports star, Beckham played 115 times for his country as well as for Manchester United, Real Madrid, LA Galaxy, Paris St-Germain and AC Milan, retiring in 2013.
The guy was reportedly first nominated for a knighthood in 2011, and has since been trying to get it going again, this time for realsies. Curtesy of the Guardian, here is a summary of the long and winding road to Beckham’s knighthood:
2011
David and Victoria rocked up to Will and Kate’s royal wedding, looking every inch the celeb power couple. Posh was six months pregnant, and cameras lapped up the tender moment when Becks placed a hand on her bump and grinned like he’d just bent a free kick into the top corner. A wholesome start to a not-so-wholesome decade.
2013
Ah, yes, the OBE ( an officer of the Order of the British Empire). Beckham got the nod for services to football back in 2003.
“This is just an amazing day,” he gushed. The queen, it turns out, was more into the beautiful game than you’d expect. “I know Her Majesty is a football fan because when I was at a Number 10 reception, the prime minister told me he had watched a World Cup game on television with the queen and William and Harry.”
Imagine that scene: Her Maj shouting at the ref while Harry spills his pint.
But not all was regal and rosy. Becks also got caught up in the glitzy world of Ingenious film investment schemes – you know, the kind that back movies like Avatar and Life of Pi… and allegedly help rich people swerve tax.
In 2017, he and other celeb investors (shout-out to Gary Lineker and Wayne Rooney) lost a court battle over a cheeky £700m tax bill. HMRC called it avoidance, not investment. Beckham’s camp swore he was unaware of the scheme. Ingenious eventually won an appeal in 2021, so technically, they weren’t so… well, ingenious after all.
2017
Cue the email leaks. Beckham’s unfiltered fury over being passed up for a knighthood in 2013 exploded across Europe’s tabloids thanks to some less-than-legal inbox snooping.
One now-infamous phrase had Becks calling the honours committee “a bunch of cunts.” His PR team claimed the emails were tampered with by hackers, swearwords allegedly added in for extra spice, but they owned up to the original insult. Hey, nothing says “future knight” like a sweary rant about the people who decide knighthoods.
2018
The Beckhams returned to royal turf for the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, surrounded by Oprah, Clooney, and more A-listers than a Met Gala afterparty. Becks, as usual, wore the suit better than most.
2022
Beckham showed the nation he could still queue with the best of us, waiting 13 hours to see the Queen lying in state.
“It was special to be here,” he said, going full sentimental. “Every time that we stood there when we wore those three lions shirts and I had my armband and we sang God Save the Queen, that was something that meant so much to us. Every time that we did it, it was something special.”
But 2022 wasn’t just about patriotic moments. It was also the year Beckham took heat for becoming the face of the Qatar World Cup – cue controversy over the Gulf state’s stance on LGBTQ+ rights. The gig reportedly earned him a cool £150 million. In a promo video, he leaned into the diplomacy: “The modern and traditional fuse to create something really special.” Hmm.
2024
Back at Buckingham Palace, this time for a state banquet in honour of the Qatari emir, hosted by King Charles and Queen Camilla. Yes, the same Qatar. Yes, the same Beckham. Friends said he was “humbled” and “very happy” to attend. Naturally.
2025
Just when you thought the skeletons had all been aired, Rebecca Loos reemerged in an interview with 60 Minutes Australia, claiming once again that she’d had a fling with Beckham in 2003.
He wasn’t having it. “Ludicrous,” he said, flatly denying the whole thing. In Netflix’s Beckham doc, he gave a rare glimpse into the emotional toll: “I don’t know how we got through it, in all honesty. Victoria is everything to me. To see her hurt was incredibly difficult … We needed to fight for each other and for our family. What we had was worth fighting for.”
And just when you think he’s traded fame for farm life, Becks pops up at the Chelsea Flower Show, chit-chatting with King Charles and Queen Camilla as ambassador to the King’s Foundation. He now champions nature and education, because of course, he does. “Efforts to ensure young people have a greater understanding of nature,” reads his website.
Turns out he’s also a full-on beekeeper now, pottering around the Cotswolds with hives and honey and that smouldering thousand-yard stare.
Beckham: footballer, model, patriot, diplomat, and now… apiarist. His reputation has been built, now give the guy a sword tap. But hang on, if the knighthood isn’t far off, he’s going to have to keep his inbox under lock and key.
[Source: Guardian]
