Some said it wouldn’t last, but David and Victoria Beckham have proven their early critics spectacularly wrong. On July 4, the golden couple will celebrate an impressive 25 years of marriage, a rare feat for most celebrity couples.
The couple met in early 1997, at a Manchester United football match, and became engaged the following January, proving that when you know, you know. And they certainly didn’t waste any time building the Beckham brand… and reflecting.
On March 4, 1999, the couple became parents to a son named Brooklyn Joseph, and their first public appearance came a few months later at the wedding of the year, when David and Victoria married in Ireland.
The nuptials, which were covered exclusively by OK!, They were everything you could imagine from one of the most famous pop stars of the 90s and Britain’s heartthrob footballer, and so much more.
David and Victoria gathered almost 300 of their closest friends and family at Luttrellstown Castle near Dublin on July 4, 1999. And from the couple’s matching suits to the Spice Girl guests and those thrones , the wedding was certainly done in style.
Located on a 560-acre estate with its own golf course, the castle was the perfect location for such an exclusive event. Surrounded by a high stone wall to keep the paparazzi frenzy at bay, the newlyweds and their guests had the privacy and space to relax and enjoy the process after months of preparations.
At that moment, the couple admitted to us that the wedding had been planned from day one. Victoria revealed: “I knew very early on how strong I felt. “As soon as I met David, I thought, ‘I want to marry this person, grow old with this person. Learn things about life with this person… have a family.’ I surprised myself. When I met David, I thought, ‘Yes, I really want to get married.'”
David agreed and told us: “I was the same way. It was that feeling you have of wanting to be with someone, of wanting to make the effort to go see them. “I’ve never had that before.” He sweetly admitted, “The fact is, this is the first time I’ve fallen in love.”
Although she didn’t become a fashion designer until later in her career, Victoria clearly had an eye for style even then. Arriving on her big day in a strapless Vera Wang wedding dress with a 20-foot train, the champagne-colored creation left everyone breathless, if Victoria’s 18-karat gold tiara hadn’t already.
David, whose best man was his Manchester United team-mate Gary Neville, wore a cream suit by English designer Timothy Everett, with a matching tie giving him a dapper look. Later, the newlyweds dressed in purple suits and sat on thrones in a raised “bridal chamber,” accompanied by a sleepy Brooklyn. His rocking chair, decorated with burgundy velvet and gold ribbon, was nearby.
While the big day may have been extravagant, it was also intimate and involved Victoria and David’s nearest and dearest, who would continue to watch the couple thrive for years to come.
“I’ve seen a lot of weddings where there are famous, glamorous people walking around, but we didn’t want a wedding like that,” Victoria said at the time. “People aren’t there because of who they are or what they do; everyone is there because they are friends.”
Three years after saying “I do,” Victoria and David welcomed another baby, Romeo James. Followed in 2005 by her third child, Cruz David, and finally, in 2011, her family was completed with a daughter, Harper Seven.
While Victoria and David have moved around the world over the years and undertaken numerous professional projects, the couple’s devotion to their four children has never wavered. “I’m very lucky that we are such a close family and David is a great husband, a great father,” Victoria said.
David echoed these sentiments in 2014: “My children are my motivation. Simple as that. “I want to show them that if you work hard you can be successful.”
Keen to give them as normal an upbringing as possible with superstar parents, Victoria and David have often been photographed taking the children on family days out, while Brooklyn and Romeo even took on part-time jobs as they entered their teens.
Currently, Brooklyn, now 25, is married to heiress Nicola Peltz and lives in Los Angeles, Romeo, 21, is following in his father’s footsteps as a soccer player, and Cruz, 19, is looking to mirror his mother. like a budding musician. Meanwhile, Harper, 12, often accompanies her famous family to glamorous events.
Clearly enjoying a close bond with their parents, it’s no surprise that all three Beckham children gush about Victoria and David on social media, with Romeo even sporting a neck tattoo to match his footballer father’s.
And as for Victoria and David, their enduring love story only seems to get stronger as they reach their milestone silver wedding anniversary.
Pulling his wife out of her recent 50th birthday celebrations, piggyback style, it was clear that they are literally always there for each other. And as they partied with their kids Brooklyn, Romeo, Cruz and Harper – not to mention the Spice Girls and famous friends from a football team – there was clearly a lot of love in the room for the iconic duo.
Their marriage doesn’t lack romance either. In October 2023, fans went wild when the couple danced together to Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton’s hit Islands In The Stream, in the Netflix series Beckham. It even prompted TikTok users to challenge their partners to the “Beckham Test,” where they play the song and start dancing to it, and see if their partners “pass” the test by joining them.
Despite their fame and fortune, David and Victoria say that simply putting each other first has been the key to their happiness.
“They have to make time for each other,” David says. “Of course mistakes are made over the years and we all know that marriage is difficult sometimes. “It’s about getting over it… We know each other better than anyone.”
“People have talked about, ‘Are we still together because it’s a brand?’ Of course not. We are still together because we love each other, because we have four wonderful children. Are you going through difficult times? Of course. That’s part of relationships. It’s part of marriages. It’s part of having children. It’s part of having responsibilities.”
Victoria reveals that they have a lot of fun together, saying: “If I really was as miserable as I look in some of those paparazzi photos, my children wouldn’t be as happy as them. And I certainly wouldn’t get married anymore.”
So what is Victoria’s knight in shining armor really like, behind closed doors? “He is just a kind and gentle person; well, not soft, but a kind person. He likes things done a certain way, which is great, because he leaves a mess everywhere he goes. That’s why we are good partners. I leave a mess and he cleans it up.”
Here’s to many more years of love and laughter. Happy anniversary, David and Victoria!
Don’t miss our special Beckhams on sale June 27th. To purchase the David and Victoria Beckham Anniversary Collector’s Edition of OK! for £9.99, visit ok.co.uk/thebeckhams
