Why David Beckham & Prince Harry's Relationship Completely Fell Apart

It appears that, ever since he left the U.K., the amount of friends in Prince Harry's inner circle has gradually been dwindling. Rumor has it that the Duke of Sussex and his once close pal, soccer star David Beckham, have gone their separate ways, and both anonymous sources and royal biographers alike have alleged that Harry's wife, Meghan Markle, is the reason for the rift. In October 2024, the royal defector's estranged older brother, Prince William, was spotted attending a royal engagement with David at his side. The two were raising funds for the London Air Ambulance Charity at the time and were spotted cracking jokes and generally just having a good laugh during the event. 

This encounter refocused attention on Harry's friendship with the former footballer, with many wondering how the prince felt about Beckham being his brother's new bestie given their highly-publicized issues over the years. They used to be thick as thieves, with David and his wife, Victoria Beckham, even attending Harry and Meghan's royal wedding in 2018. But rumor has it that tensions were brewing long before the Sussexes' big day — and the Beckhams found themselves left off the couple's evening reception guestlist as a result.

The whole ordeal reportedly started when Meghan suspected that their famous friends were leaking private information to the press. Meghan asked the prince to confront his old friend about the situation, which Harry did. And unsurprisingly, "[David was] absolutely bloody furious," as a source told the Daily Mail. Royal biographer Tom Bower detailed the phone call in his book, "Revenge: Meghan, Harry and the War Between the Windsors," professing that the awkward talk led to terrible friction between the once-close pals.

While Prince Harry and David Beckham reportedly made peace after that supremely uncomfortable phone call, it appears that they continued to drift apart after the prince married Meghan Markle. Harry's move to the United States was, according to many, what finally ended the longtime friendship. A few months after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex got married, Harry invited David to attend the Invictus Games in Australia alongside him, and the sports star agreed to hop on a flight to join his friend. But unfortunately, they didn't end up seeing each other. This, according to "Revenge," was all Meghan's doing. "She wanted no competition in the media from David. It seemed she was not prepared to tolerate anything flattering regarding the Beckhams and the Games to appear in the media," Tom Bower wrote.

Other experts claim that the Sussexes' exit from the royal family and Harry's subsequent tell-all memoir, "Spare," didn't do his relationship with David any favors either. While speaking to The Sun, royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams opined that the retired athlete would have been far from impressed. "There's no doubt that the Beckhams are very, very patriotic — they are great supporters of the royal family," Fitzwilliams argued. "I suspect strongly, and this is just my view, that they didn't like the way the Sussexes monetized their royal connections for gain." One of the couple's associates, who spoke to the Daily Mail, echoed Fitzwilliams' sentiments. "Both David and Victoria put great importance on family and would never, ever turn on their relations the way that Harry and Meghan did," they asserted.