{"id":161382,"date":"2025-06-05T22:45:14","date_gmt":"2025-06-05T22:45:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/161382\/"},"modified":"2025-06-05T22:45:14","modified_gmt":"2025-06-05T22:45:14","slug":"king-charles-to-award-ex-england-captain-a-knighthood-in-just-days","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/161382\/","title":{"rendered":"King Charles to award ex-England captain a knighthood in just days"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>David Beckham will receive a knighthood in next week&#8217;s King&#8217;s Birthday Honours list, finally achieving an honour he has sought for years.<\/p>\n<p>The 50-year-old football icon will become Sir David Beckham, whilst his wife Victoria will be entitled to use the title Lady Beckham.<\/p>\n<p>The former England and Manchester United star, who earned 115 caps for his country, will see his long-standing ambition fulfilled.<\/p>\n<p>The honour recognises both Beckham&#8217;s sporting achievements and his extensive charitable contributions.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" id=\"381ce\" data-rm-shortcode-id=\"789ca69acd3f05900d9b274f950c8adb\" data-rm-shortcode-name=\"rebelmouse-image\" class=\"rm-shortcode rm-lazyloadable-image \" lazy-loadable=\"true\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%205760%203840'%3E%3C\/svg%3E\" data-runner-src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/david-beckham.jpg\" width=\"5760\" height=\"3840\" alt=\"David Beckham\"\/><\/p>\n<p>David Beckham will receive a knighthood in next week&#8217;s King&#8217;s Birthday Honours list, finally achieving an honour he has sought for years.<\/p>\n<p>Getty<\/p>\n<p>Politicians and fellow sports figures have campaigned for years for the man nicknamed &#8220;Golden Balls&#8221; to receive a knighthood.<\/p>\n<p>Beckham previously received an OBE in 2003 for services to football, presented by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace.<\/p>\n<p>His wife Victoria, sons Brooklyn and Romeo, and his grandparents attended the ceremony.<\/p>\n<p>The father of four has made significant charitable contributions throughout his career, adding to calls for further recognition.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" id=\"9dd4b\" data-rm-shortcode-id=\"60006a3b2c42a71c6f95182569ff1ac0\" data-rm-shortcode-name=\"rebelmouse-image\" class=\"rm-shortcode rm-lazyloadable-image \" lazy-loadable=\"true\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%207844%205229'%3E%3C\/svg%3E\" data-runner-src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/1749163512_111_king-charles.jpg\" width=\"7844\" height=\"5229\" alt=\"King Charles\"\/><\/p>\n<p>The 50-year-old football icon will become Sir David Beckham, whilst his wife Victoria will be entitled to use the title Lady Beckham.<\/p>\n<p>Getty<\/p>\n<p>His wait for the higher honour has stretched over two decades since that initial recognition, with many arguing his contributions to sport and charity warranted elevation to a knighthood.<\/p>\n<p>Beckham has developed a close friendship with King Charles, sharing a mutual passion for horticulture.<\/p>\n<p>The monarch may have hinted at the impending honour during their meeting at the Chelsea Flower Show last month.<\/p>\n<p>When the countryside-loving former footballer, who serves as an ambassador for The King&#8217;s Foundation, greeted Charles and Queen Camilla, he wore the King&#8217;s rose in his lapel.<\/p>\n<p>Charles asked him: &#8220;You got it, didn&#8217;t you?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Beckham replied: &#8220;It was incredible, thank you. It was very kind.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" id=\"b58a2\" data-rm-shortcode-id=\"b8d677c235b43868607638ed2f39c8bd\" data-rm-shortcode-name=\"rebelmouse-image\" class=\"rm-shortcode rm-lazyloadable-image \" lazy-loadable=\"true\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%203440%202288'%3E%3C\/svg%3E\" data-runner-src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/1749163514_477_david-beckham.jpg\" width=\"3440\" height=\"2288\" alt=\"David Beckham\"\/><\/p>\n<p>The monarch may have hinted at the impending honour during their meeting at the Chelsea Flower Show last month.<\/p>\n<p>Getty<\/p>\n<p>Honours letters are typically sent weeks in advance, suggesting Beckham may have already received notification at the time of their exchange.<\/p>\n<p>Beckham was formally appointed as a charity ambassador by the King last year, expressing enthusiasm about his new role.<\/p>\n<p>Charles invited him to Highgrove to learn more about the charity, which focuses on &#8220;creating better communities where people, places and the planet can coexist in harmony&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>Beckham said at the time: &#8220;I&#8217;m excited to be working with The King&#8217;s Foundation and to have the opportunity to help raise awareness of the charity&#8217;s work.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>He added: &#8220;I&#8217;ve always been keen to help young people to expand their horizons and I&#8217;m particularly looking forward to supporting the Foundation&#8217;s education programmes and its efforts to ensure young people have greater access to nature.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"David Beckham will receive a knighthood in next week&#8217;s King&#8217;s Birthday Honours list, finally achieving an honour he&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":161383,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5008],"tags":[748,4781,109,393,4884,1760,12,5105,512,16,15,978],"class_list":{"0":"post-161382","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-england","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-celebrity","10":"tag-david-beckham","11":"tag-england","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-king-charles","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-royal","16":"tag-sgg","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom","19":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114633187613637925","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161382","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=161382"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161382\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/161383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=161382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=161382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}