President Ronald Reagan once said that the scariest words in the English language were “I’m from the government and I’m here to help.” If you are an English mother it is surely the words, ‘I’m from America and I’m dating your son.’
Sometimes the women are divorcees, sometimes they are actresses, sometimes they are divorced actresses. But if they are American, it’s time to start panicking. First came American socialite Wallis Simpson. She caused a constitutional crisis in the British Empire when in December 1936 King Edward VIII proposed to marry Mrs Simpson. She was divorced from her first husband and was in the process of divorcing her second. Edward’s refusal to give her up led to his abdication in December 1936. That caused quite the brouhaha at the time.
Then came another American actress and divorcee Meghan Markle. She has taken down Prince Harry who once was second in line to the throne. Prince Harry used to zoom around in RAF helicopters. Now he raises chickens in sunny California. I was firmly on team King Charles and Prince William for that one.
This next one is another sad tale involving, not unsurprisingly an American woman. Nicole Peltz is married to Brooklyn Beckham. Brooklyn Beckham’s father was once a footballer and his mother a singer. Because of progress and celebrity culture, this (unbelievably) made them virtual royalty in Britain. They sure do like to think of themselves as royalty. They also made a lot of money.
There is a rift between the young couple and David and Victoria Beckham. If you are reading the British media that is Sir David and Lady Victoria Beckham, God help us all. I just know that this story is going to break on the usual cultural war lines. I sense that the knuckleheaded conservatives will back team Sir and Lady Beckham while the woke lefties will go for the young couple. I am however breaking with my team, because I am actually on the side of the young couple. A few reasons:
First, there is simply no couple out there more insufferable, more self-promotional and more social-climbing than Dave and Victoria. I don’t resent their success, in fact I liked them when they were able to laugh at themselves way back when.
I even recall David Beckham from his days in the Manchester United youth team (I’m not kidding) as I was such a Man Utd nut (ask my brother.) But now 3 or 4 decades later, goodness what an insufferable pair they are. I think you must have lived in the UK to truly understand what ruthless promoters of Brand Beckham they are. Now that Dave has finally, finally gotten his tax affairs in order he has landed the much desired Knighthood. This tells you all you need to know about the rotten state of the British establishment.
When Brooklyn Beckham says: “My family values public promotion and endorsements above all else. Brand Beckham comes first. Family ‘love’ is decided by how much you post on social media,” I believe him.
When he says “the performative social media posts, family events and inauthentic relationships have been a fixture of the life I was born into. Recently, I have seen with my own eyes the lengths that they’ll go through to place countless lies in the media mostly at the expense of innocent people, to preserve their own façade. But I believe the truth always comes out,” I believe him.
Now you might say, like normally sensible conservative Camilla Tominay does at the Telegraph, well Brooklyn Beckham is a nepo-baby and owes everything to his parents. Sure, don’t we all owe much to our parents? That doesn’t give them a right to use a child as a social media prop or set a very well-oiled PR machine on their child should they step out of line.
Tominay: “It is difficult not to marvel at the irony. Would this be the same Brooklyn Beckham who only has a public profile because his parents once tagged him relentlessly on social media? Unlike the child stars who surpassed or financially supported their parents, Brooklyn, 26, has never had to wrestle power from less eminent figures. He would, quite literally, be a nobody, were it not for his footballing father and Spice Girl mother. There would have been no modelling career, no glossy photography book (widely panned by critics), and no Cookin’ With Brooklyn series without the Beckham name greasing every wheel.”
And? So what? Brooklyn Beckham did not get to choose to be born to someone who wore the number 7 shirt for the greatest football team ever and a mother who was once a Spice Girl at the height of Cool Britannia. Are we forgetting the basics here? He didn’t get to choose his family any more than Prince Harry did or you and I do. The fact he benefitted materially and professionally from having these two social climbers as parents might give us a right to judge him for his professional success or lack thereof, but it doesn’t mean his parents get to dictate his every move once he is an adult. What nonsense is this?
Brooklyn wrote: “The narrative that my wife controls me is completely backwards. I have been controlled by my parents for most of my life. I grew up with overwhelming anxiety. For the first time in my life, since stepping away from my family, that anxiety has disappeared.” Good for him.
He also wrote: “I have been silent for years and made every effort to keep these matters private. I do not want to reconcile with my family. I’m not being controlled, I’m standing up for myself for the first time in my life. All we want [is] peace, privacy and happiness for us and our future family.”
Peace, privacy and happiness. These things are priceless when you think about it. I do hope this is what the young couple want and are willing to work hard to get.