'Arise, Sir Goldenballs': David Beckham plays the long game in quest for knighthood

Over 20 years after receiving his OBE, David Beckham is set to finally receive a knighthood in the King's birthday honours.

The former footballer, who turned 50 last month, will be knighted after having "struck up a firm friendship with King Charles", reported The Sun.

One thing is for sure, Beckham has "certainly put the hours in" said Alexander Larman in The Spectator. "Not since Mohamed al-Fayed’s (doomed) attempts to obtain a British passport has anyone so assiduously cultivated a friendship with the royal family in order to achieve their desires."

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Last year, Beckham "revealed he had swapped beekeeping tips with the King before being given an ambassadorial role with the monarch's charity", said The Telegraph, while he has "repeatedly rubbed shoulders with the King and Queen, and wore a new rose named in the King's honour when he met them at the Chelsea Flower Show last month".

A long time coming

"Year after year", Beckham had been notably absent from the honours list, said the Daily Mirror. Despite being the face of British sport for over a decade, as far back as 2011 Beckham's nomination for a knighthood was rejected outright after his tax affairs were deemed too complex and controversial to allow him to be made a Sir.

Then in 2017, it seemed as if "his chances were dashed" for good "when explosive emails were leaked where he reportedly lashed out at the Honours Committee for not including him on the list", said the Mirror.

After some much-needed diplomacy, and a huge amount of charity work, many thought a knighthood "would finally come in 2022, after he spent 13 hours queuing with the public to pay his respects at Queen Elizabeth's coffin", said The Sun. But Beckham again missed out. Then, to add insult to injury, The Sun reported that Beckham was overlooked again last December with the honour instead going to Gareth Southgate, the former England manager.

'Seemingly Teflon'

Despite his "fame, wealth and good looks", Beckham "has not always been his own greatest advocate", said The Spectator's Larman. In fact, "there has always been a faint ridiculousness to him, as if Frank Spencer had inhabited the body of Brad Pitt".

But this knighthood is testament to the fact that Beckham's brand is "seemingly Teflon", said The Telegraph's Marianka Swain. Despite "some major reputational blows, from the 1998 World Cup sending off and Rebecca Loos' 2004 claims of an extramarital affair to controversy over the Qatar-hosted 2022 World Cup", the former footballer "is entering his golden years more professionally successful and adored than ever".

The people who know Beckham best "talk about someone who shows absolutely no signs of slowing up and is utterly determined, with the help of some very skilful people around him, to keep building his own brand", said The Athletic's Daniel Taylor. But while he has often got what he wanted, the knighthood is something "he has craved for longer than he would probably wish to remember". If it is to be "Arise, Sir Goldenballs" then "it just might be the birthday present he wanted above all".