HOLLY WAINWRIGHT: 'To understand the Beckham family estrangement, we need to go back to 1999.'

In England, two great houses stand divided.

You're probably across the Windsors. It's been five years since "Megxit" — yes, I know — was implemented. And a little over two years since its instigator, Prince Harry, wrote the book, with damning details and record-breaking sales, that sealed the fate of his familial relationships. That is, they're over.

More recently, it's the Beckhams, the other English royal family, who have become subject to Brookxit. Or Beckxit. Or whatever other clumsy tabloid nickname can be coined for something sad to its core — brothers separated, a son not speaking to his parents, a villain cast in the form of a young wife.

David Beckham with King Charles in May, 2025. Image: Instagram/@davidbeckham.

The obvious omission of Brooklyn Beckham from his father's many 50th birthday party celebrations in early May unleashed a thousand social media sleuths.

Because this is the way the world works now, they set about trying to detect whether Brooklyn was mentioned in any of the many gushing Instagram captions about the parties. And they found nothing. Not a "miss you", not a "thinking of you", not a "love you", from any of the kids or their parents.

And if you're thinking: Well, if I couldn't make it to my mum's 50th, I wouldn't expect my absence to be noted in any and all documentation of the event… Well, you don't know the Beckhams.

"We are a tight family" is a major part of their brand. And it always has been. And here, perhaps, is where the Beckham story and the Windsor story truly overlap.

Watch: Beckham family feud compared to Harry's royal fallout. Post continues after video.

Family estrangement ruins people. And it is on the rise. A recent piece in Time Magazine quoted social psychologist Joshua Coleman as saying that in the US, currently, one in two people is believed to be estranged from a close relative. In Australia, the writer Stephen Lunn wrote in The Australian that one in 25 Australians has been estranged from a close family member at some point in their lives.

A son or daughter separated or separating themselves from a family unit throws ripples that reach far shores— sibling bonds broken, empty chairs at tables, grandkids not knowing their grandparents. It's the stuff of parental nightmares.

No one can honestly have any idea if any of that is, or will be, the reality in a story about rich and beautiful celebrities. But the reason the Beckham story is attracting such breathless analysis from all corners of the world is because a) we are familiar with family beef and b) we have been invited into their lives since before Brooklyn, now 26, was even born.

When they got together, Victoria Adams was Posh Spice and David Beckham was a hot, young Manchester United midfielder. It was 1997, and the word "influencer" didn't exist. And yet, they quickly became early adopters — perhaps even creators — of the idea of celebrity as a personal brand.

Beckham was one of the very first sportsmen in the UK to cut big brand deals with clients who were not the usual boots-and-balls crew. Fragrance, sunglasses, fashion — "Becks" got into it early, and as the Spice Girls blew up (and then deflated), Victoria was the perfect partner.

In a succession of record-breaking deals with OK! Magazine, then a scrappy little upstart trying to scale the heights of Hello!, the Beckhams sold exclusives, including the 'love story', 'at homes', and, of course, their 1999 wedding. Part of all that was baby Brooklyn, the little dude in the purple cowboy hat front and centre in Part 2 of the epic weeks-long Beckham wedding album in the glossy pages of the magazine.

Since then, the Beckham brand has grown bigger than any tabloid magazine. Like most before them, once David and Victoria could afford to pull-up a drawbridge of privacy, they did, and any family sharing in recent years — the youngest of their four children, Harper, is 13 — has been on their terms, on their platforms, for the benefit of the family business only.

But for a Brooklyn Beckham — just like for a Prince Harry — the notoriety he was born into was never a decision he made for himself. So-called nepo babies don't choose their parents any more than the rest of us, and being the Son of David Beckham brings its pressures, along with its privileges.

Brooklyn Beckham and Nicola Peltz at a London Fashion Week after party in 2025. Image: Getty.

Pressures are brought to a head, perhaps, when you start to build a little satellite empire of your own. Like the Prince before him, Brooklyn met a woman, fell in love and a portal to another world yawned open.

One where he could be someone else. Not "just" David and Victoria's oldest child, picking careers to try on — photographer, chef — while always doffing his cap in deference to the Old Man (Brooklyn's hot sauce company — celebrity condiments are so literally hot right now — is named for David's iconic number 23 football jersey). No, with a strong, independently wealthy woman at your side, you can step out of the shadow and into the light. In this case, the strong Florida sunshine. In Harry's the caressing marine rays of Montecito.

Listen to The Spill where we talk more about the Beckham family feud. Post continues after audio.

When you start to see yourself not through your parent's eyes, but through your partner's, some of the things they see can touch carefully concealed nerves. The way your brothers disrespect you, perhaps. The way your mother's nurturing infantilises and silences you. The way your father is always right, even when he's wrong, and it makes you feel small.

None of these things can be attributed to the Beckhams, of course. They're drawn, rather, from our own more mundane lives and family dramas.

But it's easy to see how the separated sons of these Great British houses might have plenty of inherited baggage to dump in their new marital mansions.

And no matter how big the house, family estrangement does still ruin people.

Read more from Holly:

• 'When he died, I hadn't spoken to my father in 17 years. I have no regrets.'

• "I'm no insolent, misguided child." What's left unsaid in the 'estranged child' narrative.

• 'What did you do?' My friends don't understand my estrangement from my daughter.

Feature image: Instagram/@brooklynbeckham.