Why David Beckham's knighthood chances were 'sabotaged' after controversial email leak
David Beckham has officially been bestowed with a knighthood, after being selected in King Charles III's latest Birthday Honours list.
It was announced earlier this year that the football legend, 50, would be receiving the accolade for his life-long services to both sport and charity, having played for England a staggering 119 times.
On top of this, Beckham has also served as a Unicef ambassador for the last 20 years, and has collaborated with both King Charles personally and The King's Foundation since 2024.
He was first been nominated 14 years ago, having been praised at the time for having helped London to secure the 2012 Olympics - though, his knighthood was subsequently blocked after it emerged that he'd found himself caught up in a tax avoidance scheme.
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Responding to the news that he'd finally been selected this year, Beckham told PA: "Growing up in east London with parents and grandparents who were so patriotic and proud to be British, I never could have imagined I would receive such a truly humbling honour.
"To have played for and captained my country was the greatest privilege of my career, and it was literally a boyhood dream come true."
What some fans of the former England captain may not know, however, is that Becks once become very close to losing out on ever receiving a mention at all - and it wasn't over the financial fiasco.
The 'threat' was made in 2017 after a dubious email he'd sent reportedly saw him plunged into hot water with the committee for several years.
For anyone who hasn't yet caught wind of the scandal, eight years ago, when his name was left out of the honours list for yet another year - despite onlookers having considered him a 'shoe-in' since 2011 - the midfielder sent a furious email to his PR at the time, Simon Oliveira.
In the fiery e-exchange, Beckham took aim at the honours committee in charge of selecting the recipients of the awards each year, describing the panel as 'unappreciative c***s'. That's the c-bomb, for any boomers out there.
According to The Mirror, despite the father-of-four also insisting at the time that he didn't actually 'care about being knighted', Beckham went on to call out a number of that year's most famous recipients, including singer Katherine Jenkins.
"I expected nothing less," he is said to have added. "It's a disgrace to be honest, and if I was American I would of got something like this 10 years ago."
The publication reports that the leaked messages were seen as having 'sabotaged' the sportsman's otherwise impressive reputation at the time, with some officials believing that the incident saw Beckham 'stripped of his knighthood chances' entirely.
Thankfully, however, the latter claim was proven to be untrue, and today, he finally received the royal honour he's long sought.
Joined at Windsor Castle by wife and former Spice Girls star, Victoria Beckham, the athlete was photographed kneeling on his right knee, whilst the King taps his right and left shoulders with a sword blade, as per a long-standing royal tradition.
Responding to discussions surrounding the leaked email this week, Beckham's representatives have since provided The Mirror with a statement, accusing recent reports of being 'misleading and based on manipulated content'.
The official comment continued: "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."
Topics: David Beckham, Celebrity, Sport, UK News, Royal Family, King Charles III
Rhianna Benson