Prince Harry and David Beckham’s now-defunct friendship is making headlines all over again this week following rumours that Beckham still holds a “major grudge” against Harry and Meghan.
Back in the 2010s the Duke of Sussex and the former England captain were locked in a loyal bromance, partying as a pair in Mayfair private member’s clubs, attending the Olympics together and engaging in annual boys’ meetups at the Invictus Games.
Then it all fell apart. Sources claimed a “feud” developed between the Beckhams and the Sussexes, fuelled by Harry and Meghan’s concerns that the Beckhams were leaking information about them to the press. David was said to be extremely upset about these accusations, and apparently still is.
How did it come to this? Here, we look back on their former friendship, and how it all fell apart.
Prince Harry becomes friends with David Beckham thanks to Prince William
A few years before Harry and Becks’s bromance fully bloomed, Prince William and David Beckham struck up a friendship of their own, around 2009. This was when England launched its bid to host the 2018 World Cup (which it lost to Russia, prompting a years-long corruption case and concerns over the legitimacy of Russia’s selection as host). British sports royalty and actual royalty were thrown together to support England’s bid, with William being head of the FA and Beckham a footballing legend, so the two developed a bond.
This was back when Prince Harry and Prince William were still close, so Harry quickly forged his own bond with Beckham via his brother. The Beckhams were also invited to Prince William and Kate Middleton’s royal wedding in 2011, furthering their connection to the Windsor boys.
A few months after the royal wedding, a 36-year-old Beckham went to see Harry, then 27, while the Prince was visiting America in November 2011. The Manchester United legend was playing for LA Galaxy at the time while Harry was still in his party phase. The prince had apparently kept himself busy riding Harley Davidsons and going on roller coasters, as well as dancing in Las Vegas and hanging out with Becks, who was spotted at his hotel.
A year later, Harry would go on to have an even wilder time in Las Vegas, leading to the leaked 2012 photo of the nearly-nude prince in a Vegas hotel room following a strip Billiards game.
A friendship founded on a shared love of partying and sports
Harry and Becks got even closer in 2012 when the Olympics came to London, once again thrusting together the worlds of British sportspeople and British royalty. Prince Harry, David Beckham and Prince William attended much of the competition together, and Beckham was later quizzed by Esquire over whether he would call himself friends with the royal boys: “Yeah, I think I would. It’s a very normal relationship. With Harry as well. They’re very easy to get along with. They love their sport."
Beckham went on to speak about William’s “unfortunate” love of Aston Villa, “[...] which obviously I give him a bit of stick about.” Meanwhile Prince Harry is rumoured to have a soft spot for Arsenal, the same team that Beckham’s son Romeo supports.
When not watching sports, Harry and Becks often dined and partied together in Chelsea and Mayfair, regularly frequenting hallowed private members club The Arts Club for a late night drink and dance. The Arts Club was once a regular haunt of Charles Dickens, Anthony Trollope, and Lord Leighton, and these days it calls Gwyneth Paltrow, Kim Cattrall and Ronnie Wood members.
A source told the Daily Mail of one of their 2012 nights out: “Harry and Tom [van Straubenzee, Harry’s close friend] had so much fun with Beckham that they agreed to meet up later that night. They were getting along like really old friends. Harry had made plans to see Cirque du Soleil but he and David agreed to hook up later that night at the Arts Club.”
The infamous James Corden incident
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It was around this point in Harry and Becks’s friendship that the now-infamous incident with James Corden occurred, where David Beckham had to intervene to stop Prince Harry and Corden from getting in a fight over a rogue comment about Corden’s appearance.
According to the Daily Mail, the incident took place in The Arts Club in Mayfair (of course) around the time when James Corden was starring in One Man, Two Guvnors on the West End, which was in 2012. "There was rapture when [Corden] arrived,” the source said. “He was a much-loved part of the group and there were hugs and giggles.
"The group was pretty large. There were some of Harry's friends, some of James' friends and some of David's gang and they all intertwined. Then it all kicked off, James was furious. It quickly emerged that Harry had told a joke and James definitely did not find it funny.”
Beckham apparently stepped in to act as peacemaker and “talked to both sides and reassured Corden that no harm was meant by the cruel comment.” Corden and Harry are now good friends.
Prince Harry and David Beckham’s friendship enters the Meghan era
Harry and Becks maintained their friendship well into the Meghan era, where Beckham was incredibly supportive of the fledgling love birds. He attended their Australian tour with them in 2018 for the Invictus Games, something which had become a near-annual meetup for the two men, with Beckham being an ambassador and Harry the founder.
As well as the Invictus Games, Harry and Becks also regularly crossed paths at the Queen's Young Leaders Awards, where they would both attend to present awards to youngsters, giving the two men another annual touchstone to maintain their friendship.
Beckham attended Harry and Meghan’s wedding in 2018 and was one of the first celebrity guests to praise their nuptials online, calling it a “proud day for our country”. Similarly, Victoria Beckham said that it made her feel “proud to be British” when posting a picture from the wedding on Instagram.
The former Spice Girl was said to be supportive of Meghan’s arrival in the UK, bonding over British beauty salons and hairdresser recommendations. In fact, the two couples nearly became neighbours. In 2018, it was reported that Harry and Meghan had signed a lease on a property on the Great Tew Estate in Chipping Norton, the same bucolic Cotswolds village that David and Victoria Beckham call home.
However, they quickly moved out of the rental property and into Frogmore Cottage, where they’d been waiting for renovations to be completed.
Harry and Becks’s bromance does not survive the Meghan era
In 2020, everything changed. Harry and Meghan announced they would be stepping down as working members of the royal family and moving to the United States. They settled in Montecito, California, and lost a great deal of their friendships.
Including their bond with the Beckhams. In 2023, sources reported that Prince Harry and David Beckham had ended their friendship after Harry accused David and Victoria of leaking stories to the press.
According to reports, the prince was suspicious that Victoria might have leaked a story back in 2018 saying that she had given Meghan beauty tips (remember that bonding over British beauty salons and hairdresser recommendations?).
Speaking at the time, an insider told The Sun: "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.” It eventually became clear that a beautician was really the one to blame, but by this point it was too late.
The accusation is said to have deeply upset and angered David Beckham, who eventually put an end to the friendship and is now only friends with Prince William. This week, UsWeekly reported that Beckham still holds a “grudge” against Prince Harry and won’t be rekindling their bromance any time soon. “Victoria has actually been much more forgiving than people realise, she was really hurt by the accusations that she was spreading gossip since that’s the last thing she would ever do,” a source told the publication.
"But with time, she’s mellowed about the whole, especially since Meghan has been reaching out to mend things. The problem is David and her boys are still holding a major grudge."
