David Beckham is to be awarded a knighthood in the King’s Birthday Honour’s List after being snubbed for years.
The former Manchester United and England star, who recently celebrated his milestone 50th birthday, will be confirmed as a ‘Sir’ when the list is released next week, according to The Sun.
His wife and former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham will be known as Lady Beckham.
The tattooed ex-England captain last month chatted with King Charles at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in London, with their bond reportedly growing close in recent years through their shared love of gardening.
The 76-year-old monarch was heard congratulating the former England footballer on his landmark celebrations – and asked the star whether he had received their present.
Standing outside the Highgrove stand run by the monarch’s charity, the King’s Foundation, Beckham – who is now an ambassador for the organisation – greeted the sovereign warmly and said: ‘Your Majesty, it’s so nice to see you.’
Astonishingly, Charles then appeared to ask whether he had received the birthday present that he and his wife had sent.
‘You got it, didn’t you?’ he asked.
David Beckham wearing a David Austin Roses ‘King’s Rose’ speaks with King Charles at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show — May 20, 2025
David Beckham stands with his wife Victoria, as he shows off the OBE he received in November 2003
‘It was incredible,’ beamed Beckham. ‘Thank you, it was very kind.’
Camilla added: ‘Nice to see you again, glad you got the roses.’
Beckham, an avid royalist since he was a schoolboy in Chingford, has long craved for a knighthood and it appeared to be within his grasp having received an OBE from the late Queen in 2003.
While his appointment as an ambassador to HM’s charity the King’s Foundation was deemed an encouraging sign earlier last year, but his complicated tax affairs had once been viewed as a possible barrier.
And in February 2017, there was a slew of leaked emails showing the former footballer had appeared to unleash a barrage of expletives criticising the honours committee that had once again left him off the list for a coveted gong.
There was also an alleged 2013 leaked email, when, bitter not to be knighted, he complained about Katherine Jenkins, fuming ‘Katherine Jenkins OBE for what? Singing at the rugby and going to see the troops. Plus taking coke. F****** joke.’
Sir Rod Stewart joked last summer that Beckham’s knighthood was ‘coming soon’.
The rock star, 80, received his own knighthood in 2016 and made the quip as he appeared at the inaugural King’s Foundation awards ceremony in London alongside his wife Penny Lancaster.
During his short speech, he proclaimed that the footballing legend would soon receive the same honour he did almost a decade ago.
Beckham shares a joke with the 76-year-old monarch at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show — May, 2025
Charles speaks to Beckham as they attend the inaugural King’s Foundation charity awards at St James’s Palace in London — June, 2024
The former Manchester United and England star, who recently celebrated his milestone 50th birthday, will be confirmed as a ‘Sir’ when the list is released next week
The tattooed ex-England star with his wife Victoria at a state dinner in celebration of Slow Food at King Charles’s Gloucestershire estate
Charles speaks to the Beckhams during a dinner in celebration of Slow Food at his Gloucestershire estate, Highgrove Gardens — February, 2025
Sir Rod Stewart joked last summer that Beckham’s knighthood was ‘coming soon’. The rock star, 80, pictured here in June 2024 holding up a £10 note showing the face of the late Queen
Sir Rod, Beckham, and Charles attend the inaugural King’s Foundation charity awards at St James’s Palace — June, 2024
Speaking in a video posted to X, he said: ‘Penny and I are so honoured to be ambassadors for the King’s trust.
‘I’m also wonderfully honoured to be a knight. David, yours is coming soon’.
Beckham will join a finite list of sports stars, including the likes of the late Sir Bobby Charlton and former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson.
The King and Beckham’s friendship has blossomed in the last 18 months.
When they met at the British Fashion Council awards in May 2023, David gave the monarch a pot of his homemade honey – D Bee’z Sticky Stuff – which he makes at the couple’s Grade II listed barn in Great Tew, Oxfordshire. It was then that they discovered common ground – their mutual love for bees.
The King was surprised by the ex-footballer’s hobby and later invited him to his Highgrove estate where he asked him to join The King’s Foundation, a charity which works globally to create sustainable communities.
‘The King and David have a very strong bond,’ says a source. ‘They both enjoy the outdoors and actually have far more in common than you would think.
‘They have this shared love for the countryside and nature.
Queen Camilla talks with Dame Helen Mirren (left) and the Beckhams at King Charles’s Gloucestershire estate, Highgrove House — June, 2024
Beckham greets Queen Camilla during a dinner at Highgrove House — February, 2025
David Beckham met with King Charles to offer him a jar of his own home-produced honey during an industry showcase event in May 2023
Sportsman David waited for 13 hours in the five-mile long queue to pay his respects to the late monarch after arriving at 2am, and even shed a tear when he reached the inside
Special occasion: Behind-the-scenes footage of David Beckham from the day he met the queen and received his OBE in 2003 for services to football
David shook hands with her majesty when he was made an OBE by the Queen in 2003
‘They come from very different backgrounds but they have a close relationship, and have a few different points of connection from sport to countryside and charities.
‘The friendship has happened organically. You wouldn’t exactly put a footballer and a King together and expect them to get on so famously but it just works. It’s lovely.’
Family is also important to both men, and Beckham’s devotion to the late Queen, and the fact that he was brought up to respect the Royal Family cannot have gone unnoticed.
Along with revealing in interviews that he has always stood for the Queen’s Speech, Beckham’s decision to stand for 12 hours in the famous public ‘queue’ to see the late Queen lying in state in Westminster Hall, in September 2022, could be seen as another pivotal moment in his rehabilitation.
Beckham’s bid for a knighthood had appeared to have been marred by furious emails he allegedly sent and were exposed after a hack.
Beckham allegedly wrote an email to his PR manager, Simon Oliveira, indicating his fury that classical music singer Katherine Jenkins had been handed an OBE after he missed out on a knighthood.
When Jenkins was awarded an OBE in 2013 – the same honour Beckham holds – the decision was allegedly branded a ‘f****** joke’.
Beckham, who himself received the honour a decade earlier, is reported to have sent a furious email to Oliveira, lambasting the decision by the honour’s committee.
Beckham’s representatives dismissed the claims, stating that the emails had been ‘hacked and doctored’ from a private account.
A spokesperson for David Beckham said: ‘This story is based on outdated material taken out of context from hacked and doctored private emails from a third party server and gives a deliberately inaccurate picture.’
