He played for some of the sport’s biggest clubs: Manchester United, Real Madrid, AC Milan and Paris Saint-Germain. He was part of Sir Alex Ferguson’s fabled Class of ’92, a boy from working-class east London who rose to global fame through United’s dominance in the late ’90s – winning six Premier League titles, two FA Cups, and the Champions League in 1999 as part of the club’s historic treble.
He then pioneered a new phase of football’s international expansion by becoming the marquee star in Major League Soccer with LA Galaxy. That move would later define the US league’s modern era – and Beckham’s own transformation from player to sporting statesman.
He was, quite simply, the face of English football for a generation.
David Beckham congratulated by teammate Emile Heskey after scoring their second goal against Greece during their 2002 World Cup qualifying match at Old Trafford.Credit: AP
For England, he earned 115 caps, captaining his country 59 times and featuring in three World Cups. He scored 17 goals, none more memorable than the curling free kick against Greece in 2001 that secured England’s place at the 2002 World Cup. It was pure Beckham. Technically precise, dramatically timed, and delivered when it mattered.
But his road to knighthood has not been smooth. He was first nominated in 2011, but his name never appeared. In 2017, a cache of hacked emails appeared to show him venting his frustration in crude terms – not only criticising the honours committee but questioning the merits of others who’d received them.
His PR team dismissed the messages as doctored and out of context, but the damage to his reputation lingered.
David Beckham poses with his wife, Victoria, as he holds the OBE he received in November 2003.Credit: POOL
There were also tax issues. His links to an avoidance scheme reportedly blocked his elevation for years, despite his growing portfolio of charitable and ambassadorial work. It wasn’t until 2021 that tax authorities cleared the way, and even then, his name was conspicuously absent from the following honours lists.
But Beckham is nothing if not patient. His public journey has always followed a particular arc: early acclaim, a fall from grace, and then redemption – not through reinvention, but through endurance.
Perhaps no moment better illustrated that than September 2022, in the wake of the Queen’s death. When thousands queued for hours – some through the night – to pay their respects to the late monarch as she lay in state at Westminster Hall, Beckham joined them. Quietly. At 2am. In a flat cap and black coat.
He waited 13 hours. Politely refusing offers to skip ahead. Chatting with strangers. Accepting sausage rolls. And when he reached the catafalque, he cried. Not for show – but because it mattered.
David Beckham is surrounded by media after paying his respects to the late Queen Elizabeth II in Westminster Hall.Credit: AP
In a nation that mythologises queuing as a democratic act of respect and stoicism, Beckham’s choice resonated deeply. It wasn’t just grief. It was gratitude. For the Queen, yes, but also for a country that had embraced and challenged him in equal measure. It was a moment that rewrote the public narrative – or perhaps reminded people why they’d ever cared.
Last year he was appointed an ambassador to The King’s Foundation, Charles III’s charitable initiative focused on education, sustainability, and opportunity for young people.
In many ways, Beckham’s life since football has become a study in careful evolution.
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He’s still, at 50, recognisably Beckham: tattoos, tailored suits, Netflix shows, global campaigns. But beneath the surface is a man who’s quietly chosen to tether his name to causes larger than his brand. Soccer may have launched him, but it’s his afterlife – as a father, philanthropist, ambassador, and steady presence – that now defines him.
There will always be those who raise eyebrows at celebrity honours, questioning whether star power overshadows more traditional forms of public service.
But Beckham’s story should resist such cynicism. He is a product of the media age, yet somehow a figure of old-fashioned values: family, service, perseverance.
For a man once defined by spotlight and superstardom, it was the anonymity of the queue that made him visible again. Sir David Beckham. At last.
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