The rise and fall of Harry and Meghan’s friendship with Beckhams

They’re two of the most famous couples in the world, who are once believed to have enjoyed a close friendship.

But in recent years, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are believed to have fallen out with David and Victoria Beckham – in a spat which seemingly dates back to 2018.

The row is believed to have heightened when the Sussexes allegedly accused the Beckhams of leaking stories about them to the press – while royal biographers claimed Meghan ‘didn’t like the footballer’s friendship with Prince William.’

New speculation about their relationship emerged overnight, when, as the Mail understands, King Charles met with David Beckham to discuss his charitable foundation while Prince Harry was in the country.

Previously, the Duke of Sussex had said that his father was too busy attending to ‘various other priorities’ to see him while he was in the UK this week.  

Here, FEMAIL breaks down how the relationship fell apart – from wedding invitation snubs and disagreements over designer clothing to fears of an upstaging. 

2013 – MEGHAN FIRST MEETS VICTORIA 

In 2013, the then-actress Meghan gave the Victoria Beckham label a boost when she wore one of her dresses to a gala event at the New York Film Festival. 

Lizzie Cundy, from the UK but now living in LA, claimed she was with Meghan at a party the first time she laid eyes on Posh Spice, causing the Duchess to ‘squeal’ with excitement.

Lizzie, who first interviewed Meghan, 41, in 2013 but hasn’t spoken to her in years, told the New York Post Meghan was left starstruck by Posh Spice the first time they met – which was the same time Ms Cundy first met the Duchess.

She told the New York Post that Meghan ‘squealed’ when she first met Victoria at a party in 2013.

‘Meghan was so thrilled with excitement to see Victoria Beckham. She went “Oh my God, that’s Victoria Beckham!”, Ms Cundy added.

She claimed the Duchess was a ‘proper big fan’ of Posh Spice, and recalled thinking Meghan needed to ‘calm down and be cool’ after first spotting her.

Victoria had her own connections to Prince Harry, first meeting him more than 20 years ago in November 1997 when they both visited South Africa. 

They held hands — though it was said that schoolboy Harry’s favourite ‘Spice’ was Emma Bunton.

Meanwhile David Beckham and fun-loving Prince Harry had spent a lot of time together both doing charitable work and socialising. 

There have been at least two big nights out in London together — one at the end of 2011 and one at the start of 2012, both at the Arts Club in Chelsea. By all accounts, both were heavy drinking sessions that lasted until around 3am.

David and Victoria also attended the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton, in 2011, when Victoria was pregnant with Harper. 

David said the following year: ‘We had to pinch ourselves when we got the invite. I’ve become friends with Prince William and Harry as well. We were brought up to love the Royal Family and, when Princess Di was around, the love for her was incredible.

‘And then you watch the lives of William and Harry and it’s kind of like the Truman Show, seeing them grow into young men.

‘It makes you proud to be English, watching them grow into the people they are today.’

David was involved in the Queen’s Young Leaders Award in 2016, which Prince Harry attended.

He was also part of the team bidding to host the World Cup in 2018 or 2022 and travelled to Johannesburg with Prince Harry in 2010 to meet with Fifa officials. 

David’s new passion for shooting — fostered by director Guy Ritchie — gives him even more in common with Harry.

In 2015, three of the Beckham children, Romeo, Cruz and Harper, were introduced to Prince Harry on the sidelines of a Unicef charity football match.

2017 – A FRIENDSHIP DEVELOPS  

David and Victoria showed kindness towards Meghan ever since she moved into Harry’s cottage in Kensington Palace in 2017, the biographer Tom Bower told The Sun. 

According to the Mail on Sunday, the couples bonded because Izzy May, David Beckham’s communications director, was friends with Markus Anderson, chief membership officer for private social club Soho House, who helped arrange Meghan’s secret dates with Harry.

Victoria, in what Mr Bower describes as an attempt to ‘build their relationship’, offered Meghan make-up advice.

A member of the designer’s staff is also understood to have helped Meghan with facials and hairdressing.

But the royal couple allegedly had a suspicion that the Beckhams leaked stories about Meghan’s help from Victoria to the press – a claim the former Spice Girl denied and left David reportedly feeling ‘absolutely bloody furious’.

The Beckhams also hosted Meghan in their six-bedroom house in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles before her marriage to Harry. 

The couple’s staff tended to Meghan’s needs at no cost during her private visit to California, Mr Bower claimed.

Victoria at the time was reported to have been a kindly and constant influence, growing ever closer to Meghan.

By the time that Meghan and Prince Harry became engaged, she and Victoria were said to have ‘grown close’ and would ‘regularly text’. 

Meghan also gave the designer her seal of approval by selecting a cashmere knit for one of her engagement portraits with Harry. 

2018 – ROYAL SNUBS BEGIN? 

In 2018, it was being reported that their friendship had grown and that Meghan was in the habit of consulting Victoria about style. 

Vanity Fair reported: ‘They get along well and have been in touch recently. Meghan really likes Victoria’s style and was keen to pick her brains about pulling together a working wardrobe.’

However Harry and Meghan then decided not to invite the Beckhams to their wedding dinner, despite the fact that they were asked to attend the marriage ceremony at St George’s Chapel.

Mr Bower claims the move was a ‘near-unforgivable insult’, citing that many Hollywood stars who attended the dinner ‘were not friends’.

But regardless of the alleged slight, David still accepted Harry’s invitation to attend the Invictus Games. He travelled to Sydney in October 2018 but then never even had face time with the Duke.

Mr Bower alleges that during this time Harry and Meghan had been regularly searching themselves on the internet to look for hateful comments about themselves. 

He claims at that point Meghan was ‘not prepared to tolerate anything flattering regarding the Beckhams and the Games to appear in the media’.

David found the apparent move to keep him separated from Harry as ‘a bit strange’ but decided not to call the Prince about it, the biographer wrote, adding that he and Victoria ‘barely mentioned’ the slight during their stay at a rented house in North Shore, Sydney.

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 and Harry was renting a converted barn. 

The biographer claims that while the men ‘occasionally meet at weekends’, Meghan had already ‘put on airs’.

2018 – 2020 – TENSION OVER FREE CLOTHES? 

In his biography, Tom alleged that the Duchess was frustrated that Spice Girl turned fashion designer Victoria was reluctant to supply her with free clothes and accessories from her label, despite the requests being against Palace rules. 

Victoria lent Meghan a coat during the Christmas holidays, which the Duchess wore on Christmas day 2018 during a walk with the Royal Family to the church at Sandringham.

The former Spice Girl turned fashion designer later appeared on American talk show Live with Kelly and Ryan and admitted it came as a very pleasant surprise to see pregnant Meghan wearing an entire outfit from her line.

Speaking on the talk show, Victoria described The Duchess of Sussex’s decision to choose her designs at Christmas as an honour.

The mother-of-four said: ‘She looked so beautiful. It was such a lovely surprise to wake up to on Christmas morning.

‘You know, I think she’s such a beautiful, strong and wonderful woman – so it was a huge honour!’ 

The designer also produced a custom-made white coat and dress for Meghan in 2020 which she wore during her last appearance in Westminster Abbey in March that year. 

But Meghan, who was pregnant at the time, endorsing Victoria’s label had little impact on sales, Mr Bower alleged. 

He claims the only direct impact it had was that a £1,400 bag used by Meghan ‘sold out’ after being linked in a social media video.

The royal also wowed in a £950 turquoise figure-hugging dress as she made her first post-Megxit appearance at the Endeavour Awards in London alongside Prince Harry. 

2020 – RIFT OVER WILLIAM? 

In February 2020, the former professional footballer spoke about how ‘he’s proud’ of his ‘amazing’ friend Prince Harry following his marriage to Meghan and the birth of their son, Archie.

David praised Harry for ‘growing up’ amid his decision to step back back as a senior royal and relocate to Canada.

‘I haven’t spoken to Harry about him moving,’ the sporting legend said, speaking to ET Online. ‘We speak as friends and that’s the most important thing for me.’

‘I think he’s enjoying being a young father for the first time and that’s what we always spoke about.’

David went on to say that he and Victoria were proud of the dad that Harry had become.

He said: ‘We love him and he’s an amazing person – and that’s the most important thing – but I’m proud to see him growing up as an individual and being that person that every father wants to be,’ he added. 

Meanwhile it emerged later that year that Prince Harry and Meghan hired David and Victoria’s highly-rated former aide to join their Los Angeles team.

Mother-of-two Rebecca Mostow, 70, was brought in by the couple to help run their day-to-day lives in Beverly Hills, reports suggested at the time.

Ms Mostow previously worked for Prince and Seal and was employed by David Beckham after he started playing for LA Galaxy in 2007. 

But as Harry and Meghan prepared to make their move to California and step away from royal life, the Beckhams refused to take sides in the alleged row between the Sussexes and Prince William and his wife Kate.

David and William are understood to have had a good relationships since England’s World Cup bid in 2010, which Mr Bower claims ‘annoyed the Sussexes’.

Their alleged distaste towards the Beckhams friendship with the then-Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, was furthered last year when David flew from Qatar to Boston during the World Cup to help William and Kate with their philanthropic efforts. 

American 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’ ceremony, which was attended by President Joe Biden, seemingly upstaged an event hosted by the Sussexes in New York that same weekend.

2022 – WEDDING INVITE SNUB 

Reports in July 2020 stated that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were at ‘the top of Victoria and David’s guestlist for their son Brooklyn’s wedding to Nicola Peltz.

Speculation ramped up when Spice Girl Mel B revealed Victoria and David were inviting their own friends to the big day. 

Appearing on Lorraine in March 2022, Mel B confirmed she would be attending the event as she spoke about receiving her MBE, revealing: ‘I did actually ask her. I’m taking my mum and so I did say, ‘Can you dress me and my mum?’

‘I’m going to see her at her son’s wedding anyway. Yeah Victoria, it would be great!’ 

However Meghan and Harry were not guests at the wedding in April last year.

It’s unknown if the couple weren’t invited, or whether they were unable to attend the event.

Brooklyn tied-the-knot with actress Nicola on April 9 at her family’s oceanfront mansion in Palm Beach, Florida, which  is just a short flight from Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s $14 million Californian home.  

2023 – ACCUSATIONS OF LEAKING STORIES EMERGE…  

In July, it emerged there was a suspicion the Beckhams may have leaked stories about the Sussexes, an accusation The Mail on Sunday was told left David ‘absolutely bloody furious’. 

A source close to the Beckhams said: ‘David and Victoria went to Meghan and Harry’s wedding and were very supportive when Meghan arrived in the UK.’ 

But the accusations, which The Mail on Sunday has been told came in a tense phone call, fractured the Beckham friendship.

The source added: ‘Any making up now is so unlikely.’ 

 …AND TENSION AT THE FOOTBALL 

Mr Bower says the spat was again furthered just weeks later when the Beckhams hosted a star-studded celebration after Lionel Messi scored a last-minute 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 for hours. 

The biographer alleged that Meghan ‘pushed’ Victoria away over the last few years, adding that she may have done ‘much better’ with the British public if ‘she copied Victoria’ instead.

Meanwhile neither Victoria nor Meghan attended Inter Miami’s game last September – despite the Duchess of Sussexes’ name appearing on the list of expected guests. 

Victoria Beckham, who has frequently attended Inter Miami’s games and brought along celebrity friends such as Kim Kardashian, was also not seen on the night. 

And while Harry didn’t bump into Victoria at the match last night, the Beckham’s eldest son Brooklyn did have a run in with the Duke.

The Duke of Sussex was filmed being swept to his $9,000-a-night VIP suite by bodyguards before watching Los Angeles Football Club lose 3-1 to Messi’s side Inter Miami at the BMO Stadium.

The prince was cheered by crowds in the lobby as he passed straight by Brooklyn and his wife Nicola Peltz, who did not meet his gaze despite the commotion.

Although it is not clear if the three stars saw one another, the footage has fuelled speculation of an ongoing feud between the Beckhams and the Sussexes. 

2023 – DID CHARLES SNUB HARRY FOR BECKHAM MEETING?

In the latest twist in the tale, the Mail understands that King Charles met David to discuss his charitable foundation while Prince Harry was in the country this week.

The Duke of Sussex had said that his father was too busy attending to ‘various other priorities’ to see him while he was in Britain this week.

No pictures were released of the meeting and it is unknown where the pair met.

The revelation that the King met the former England captain, 49, while his son was home and attending an event two miles from Buckingham Palace may widen their rift further.

It could also add further pressure on the relationship between the Sussexes and the Beckhams, as it is claimed Harry had wanted to see his father.

Prince Harry’s visit was planned months in advance and while the King’s visit this week to a barracks was called a ‘surprise’, his diary is also tightly choreographed.

But the Duke of Sussex had reportedly invited his father to St Paul’s Cathedral for the tenth anniversary of the Invictus Games although courtiers were not aware Harry had made any specific request to see the King.

The Palace has remained tight-lipped as to why the two never met despite virtually crossing each other’s paths.