Sir David’s Strong Bond with King Charles Amidst Ribbing Over His Lord Becks Title

It might come as something of a surprise to learn that, alongside the trophies and football shirts that grace the walls of his £10 million Cotswolds mansion, one of David Beckham’s most prized possessions is a simple walking stick. 

Hand-carved in wood, with the head of a pheasant as its handle, he uses it every weekend during his long walks across their estate in Great Tew, Oxfordshire.

The stick is now an integral part of the former England captain’s ‘country gent’ look – something he has adopted ever since he and wife Victoria bought their Grade II-listed converted barn in 2017.

Gone are the sarongs he sported in the late 1990s; today, the highly decorated sportsman is more likely to be seen in wax jackets, tweed and, of course, a flat cap. Getting his image just right is something David has long taken seriously.

As a friend tells me: ‘Whether it’s his wax jacket or his wellies, David wants to look good, as he does whatever phase he is in. Even if he is walking around the garden, he wants to look the part.’

He acts the part, too. On the couple’s sprawling grounds are beehives, his beloved chickens and a vegetable patch where David grows kale and takes great pride in his radishes.

He is also said to be ‘very, very good’ at his new hobby – shooting – which has left his more experienced country friends in awe.

‘Life after football is rather enjoyable for him,’ a friend says. ‘Everything David does he does properly, and this is no different.’

But such a wholesale transformation has, unsurprisingly, provoked many a jibe from his old football friends, including his former Manchester United teammates Gary Neville and Paul Scholes.

Even Victoria is said to enjoy teasing him gently for his cultivated country ways. But imagine the ribbing he’ll be getting now. Last week, David’s reinvention reached its apex as he was named as the

latest guest editor of Country Life, a magazine long regarded as the house journal for the hunting, shooting and fishing set.

He will oversee the October issue to mark Country Life’s 50th birthday. It’s no coincidence that David, too, turned 50 last month – compounding the privilege.

He has said he is looking forward to helping to ‘produce an issue that will celebrate what the countryside and the great British landscape means to me and my family’.

No doubt the honour – equivalent to guest-editing Vogue for any self-respecting fashionista – will feel like the cherry on the social-climbing cake for the Beckhams.

After all, the King himself has twice guest-edited the magazine – for his 65th birthday in 2013 and his 70th birthday in 2018. The Princess Royal masterminded an issue to mark her 70th birthday in 2020, while the Queen, then Duchess of Cornwall, was invited to edit the title to coincide with her 75th in 2022.

David’s new-found close friendship with Charles is, at its heart, based on a shared affection for the British countryside.

In his 2023 eponymous Netflix documentary, David explained how lucky he felt to be able to tend his own bees and chickens, take strolls around his lake and plant trees – as he did with his daughter Harper, now 13, during lockdown.

For both Charles and David, their country piles represent an escape. It’s likely to have been a particular tonic for David as he has dealt with the devastation of the fall-out with his eldest son and Brooklyn’s wife Nicola Peltz.

Another helpful distraction is, of course, David’s pending knighthood. Announced on Friday, as part of the King’s birthday honours, it will mean Victoria will be able to assume the title ‘Lady Beckham’ – finally living up to her Spice Girls ‘Posh’ moniker.

Those who know her joke she has wanted this for some time. Despite her claim on the Netflix documentary that she had a working-class upbringing, David reminded her that she was driven to school in a Rolls-Royce.

As for whether Victoria gets her hands dirty working in their Cotswolds garden, a friend tells me: ‘She’s much more comfortable working out in their indoor gym. She jokes and giggles about David’s new love, she takes the absolute p*** out of him.

‘She even does it publicly on Instagram to her millions of followers. But now she will of course be unimaginably proud of David.’

While there’s no doubt David’s rural passion is heartfelt, it has also helped water his country gent image, looking every bit a knight of the realm. Indeed, this time a decade ago, being made a ‘Sir’ was unimaginable for him.

Born at Whipps Cross Hospital in Leytonstone, East London, David grew up in a modest semi in Chingford, Essex, with his hairdresser mum Sandra and gas fitter father Ted, where wax jackets and red trousers were a rare sight.

His football career changed everything and, after being awarded an OBE in 2013, he was on the cusp of a gong the following year. But concerns were raised after he was caught up in an alleged tax avoidance scheme, later deemed to be legitimate.

In February 2017, he scored an own goal, taking aim at the honours committee for removing him from the list for a knighthood. Beckham, usually charming, spat that they were ‘unappreciative c***s’ and insisted he didn’t ‘care about being knighted’.

All that, thankfully, was long forgotten when David met the King at the British Fashion Council awards in May 2023 – one of the charities to put the former footballer forward for a knighthood – and handed him a pot of his homemade honey, named DBee’z Sticky Stuff. 

The Monarch was apparently ‘stunned’ at the gift because he had no idea the footballer was a fellow apiarist.

A friend of the star tells me: ‘A strong connection has forged between them. When David handed over the honey, the King looked surprised – and he was intrigued by David’s love for the countryside.’

He wasn’t the only one, as David has himself acknowledged. In an Instagram post, which featured David planting flowers in his garden, he captioned it with: ‘I can hear my East End mates going, “He has changed.”’

Last summer, the King invited David to Highgrove, where Charles proudly gave him a tour of his beloved gardens and introduced him to stone carvers on the estate and craftspeople making furniture and textiles. He also made him an ambassador for his King’s Foundation, which promotes the natural world and a sustainable future.

The royal acquaintanceship has left David ‘honoured and delighted’. A friend of his explains: ‘David comes from a working-class family where the countryside wasn’t a thing. The King finds David’s love for it that he found later in life so interesting.

‘It certainly gave the two men much to talk about. Charles was stunned that David had such knowledge, it was really lovely. They chatted for ages.’

David and the King came face to face last month at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show where they discussed their mutual hobby, and again last week at St James’s Palace, where David met the Monarch after the King’s Foundation Awards ceremony.

Said the friend: ‘It’s a really classy transformation for David, something so few people could do but he has evolved so much over the years.’

Indeed, there have been several controversies that could easily have had a lasting impact on David’s reputation. He faced death threats after receiving a red card against Argentina in the 1998 World Cup, and weathered accusations made by Rebecca Loos that he had cheated on Victoria.

More recently, headlines have focused on the Beckhams’ rift with Brooklyn, which looks unlikely to be reconciled soon.

But as David prepares to meet the King once more for his investiture later this year, there will be plenty for the pair to discuss: from how to harvest your honey to the best organic manures.

It’s all a long way from Match Of The Day.