We now live in a world in which David Beckham is 50 years old. Hard to reconcile, I know, that the young man we can still clearly see in our mind’s eye precisely lobbing the ball into Wimbledon’s net from the halfway line, or shaven-headed, curling in a magnificent last-minute free kick against Greece to get England into the 2002 World Cup finals, is now at an age when he should get regular screening for bowel cancer.
It would be hard to miss the fact that he has just passed this landmark. Even if you are not plugged into social media, the papers have been replete with pictures from a Bacchanalian four days of wining and dining, toasting and posting.
It started with a party for family and friends at their home in the Cotswolds and ended with a dinner at a restaurant in London that was attended by, among others, Tom Cruise, Gordon Ramsay and Eva Longoria. In between, there was a trip to France for dinner in Paris and a visit to the Petrus vineyard in Bordeaux.
We know all this because it’s been carefully curated by Victoria Beckham for her 32.9 million followers on Instagram. “Creating special memories with family and friends,” read the caption. “We love you all.”
Petrus, one of the world’s great clarets, is apparently David’s favourite wine, although none of the photographs shows him actually drinking it. In the picture of the happy couple having lunch at the vineyard, Victoria is toasting her husband with a full glass, while David appears to be drinking water.
Nevertheless, I’m sure the makers of Petrus will be pleased with the product placement. There’s also a bottle of Petrus 2004 (£4,000 a bottle) in the carefully-styled picture of David on the balcony of his Paris hotel, although the glasses appear to be champagne (rather than red wine) glasses, none of them actually have wine in them, and incongruously, there is an ice bucket next to said bottle of Petrus.
I point out these anomalies not be facetious, but to question whether all is as it seems. We have to look beyond the snapshots to discover that their eldest son, Brooklyn, wasn’t present at any of the celebrations amid reports of a family rift. Does this sound familiar?
Brooklyn lives in California with his American actress wife, Nicola, and relations between him and his parents are reported to be strained. Ever since David and Victoria appeared on thrones together at their wedding, we have thought of the House of Beckham to be a faux Royal Family, and here’s more evidence.
There are many reasons to commend David and Victoria, both individually and as a couple. Their pre-eminence in their respective fields reveals them to be serious, hard-working and talented people while the longevity of their marriage is something of an admirable exception on Planet Celebrity. But I can’t help feeling rather nauseous about this latest display of self-regard.
square SIMON KELNER
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Read MoreI know their currency is public recognition and approval, but they are not Love Island stars or rappers or Donald Trump, and David is definitely now at an age where he should know better. Displays of excess, consumption and braggadocio are not exactly in sync with the values of the age that, in some of his utterances, he espouses.
Notwithstanding the invidious comparison, I loved the fact that the billionaire Warren Buffett, at almost twice Beckham’s vintage, has marked his own landmark – retirement at the age of 94 – by returning to the home he has lived in for 67 years in the car he has owned for 11 years. His entire life has been a lesson in moderation and self-effacement.
With the departure from the business world of Buffett, stocks in modesty have taken a tumble. We desperately need other public figures to follow Warren Buffett’s personal example. David Beckham, even at the grand old age of 50, still has plenty of time to choose that particular boulevard.
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