Downfall of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's friendship with the Beckhams explained

David and Victoria Beckham once seemed close to Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle. But in recent years, it's clear that their friendship has dramatically cooled

The former England captain is a self-confessed royalist, but even that couldn't help save his relationship with the Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.

What was once a close friendship has since turned frosty for the Beckhams and the Sussexes, and an explosive claim on Victoria's true feelings has now been revealed. While the two couples once had a tight bond, cracks started to appear as the Beckhams were blamed for leaking stories to the press - an allegation they strongly denied.

As the relationship soured, it was then reported Victoria made her feelings clear about the dutchess. Despite reaching out to support Meghan during her move to London, and attending Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's wedding, their fallout became inevitable. The Mirror takes a look at the breakdown of the friendships and where it all went wrong.

David has maintained a relationship with both Prince William and King Charles - something that is also said to have heightened the tensions between the couples - and he was recently spotted laughing and joking with William at a charity event.

William and David were all smiles when they marked the end of the London Air Ambulance Charity's 'Up Against Time' appeal together. RAF Northolt welcomed the royal, the charity's patron, and the footballer legend, an ambassador for the LAAC.

But it seems as though the Beckhams won't be spotted with Harry and Meghan any time soon. Insiders claim the Beckham's haven't tried to stay in touch with the Sussexes or help repair their frosty relationships after their alleged fall out. A source told the Daily Mail: "Both David and Victoria put great importance on family and would never, ever turn on their relations the way that Harry and Meghan did."

The source then claimed Victoria has never been a huge fan of Meghan Markle and continued: "The truth is that Victoria never really liked Meghan much. She was friendly and welcoming to her but is not bothered about staying in touch."

Victoria had reached out to Meghan when she moved to London and at the time, and it was reported that the Spice Girls icon had lent Meghan her all-important little black book of her favourite hairdressers and stylist in the capital. However things are said to have turned sour when details of their friendship were shared in the press - and it was this that led to the first awkward tiff between the couples.

Meghan reportedly suspected Victoria had 'leaked' the stories - promoting a 'mortifying' phone conversation between their husbands. A source told The Sun at the time: "Harry was very polite, but obviously it was a pretty awkward exchange and David was mortified. Inexplicably, [Meghan] feared Victoria was behind it — I mean, the idea that Victoria Beckham would be personally ringing journalists to give them a scoop is ridiculous — and spoke to Harry about it.

"Harry is very protective of Meghan, and decided to deal with the matter head-on, by directly contacting his good pal, David. He quickly put Harry right, and the two men agreed to move on — but it certainly made things awkward for a while."

David and Victoria were on the guest list for Harry and Meghan's wedding, however. The couple joined the pair's friends, family, and fellow A-listers at St George's Chapel on 19 May 2018. But, according to reports, they were only invited to the ceremony - and not the reception afterwards, which is said to have irked the Beckhams.

In October that same year, the Sussexes headed off on a tour of Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific, which coincided with the 2018 Invictus Games in Sydney. Harry had asked David to be an ambassador for the Invictus Games and the former footballer travelled Down Under to show his support for the event.

But things reportedly became tense when the Prince inexplicably refused to see David in Sydney. It was claimed that the reason Harry was keeping his friend at arms' length was Meghan - who still feared Victoria was leaking stories about her to the press.

Despite that, David initially said he was 'proud' of Harry following the announcement in 2020 that he and Meghan were stepping down from the royal family.

Speaking to Entertainment Tonight, David described Harry as an "amazing" person. "We love him," he said, speaking on behalf of his wife, Victoria. "But I'm proud to see him growing up as an individual and being that person that every father wants to be."

However, following their exit, Harry and Meghan made numerous public attacks on the royal family - and the monarchy, something likely to have upset David, an ardent royalist who famously queued for 12 hours to pay his respects to the Queen as she lay in state.

Since then, the couples have kept their distance. In 2022 when David and Victoria's eldest son Brooklyn married actress Nicola Peltz in a lavish wedding in Florida, Harry and Meghan were nowhere to be seen.

And last summer when David welcomed football superstar Lionel Messi to his Inter Miami team, a star-studded crowd were in attendance for his debut. But again the Sussexes weren't there.

One issue between the Sussexes and the Beckhams could be David's close connection to Prince William and King Charles. Like Harry, William has known David and Victoria for many years and the Beckhams were in Westminster Abbey when he married Kate Middleton back in 2011. In fact, Kate has worn a Victoria Beckham dress and sunglasses on outings in the past.

And in 2022, David joined both William and Kate when they travelled to Boston for the Prince of Waleses' second annual Earthshot Prize awards, where he presented one of the prizes at one of William's main projects.

David was also recently named a King's Foundation ambassador. In photographs released to mark the announcement, the sportstar was pictured with the King on the doorstep of Highgrove, Charles's Gloucestershire retreat, and shown trying out his carpentry skills with foundation students taking part in woodworking courses at the Snowdon School of Furniture.

The pair also swapped beekeeping tips, with David saying: "Having developed a love for the countryside I'm also on a personal mission to learn more about rural skills which is so central to the foundation's work. It was inspiring to hear from the King about the work of His Majesty's foundation during my recent visit to Highgrove Gardens – and compare beekeeping tips!"

The two men caught up again at the inaugural King's Foundation awards at Buckingham Palace - and were on very friendly terms as they chatted about football and discussed England’s chances in the Euro 2024 championships.

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