david beckham and wife victoria beckham© GETTY

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle once brutally “snubbed” David Beckham – which prompted the former footballer to take “revenge” on the couple.

According to author Tom Bower – who has penned a number of books about the Royal Family – the sporting star felt that he had been snubbed by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex just months after their glamorous royal wedding in 2018.

The Invictus Games took place in Sydney in October 2018 – just five months after the wedding – and David came along to support. But the former footballer was left “puzzled” that Harry kept his distance.

Mr Bower claimed that David had arrived “on the agreed day to meet Prince Harry [and that] he was perplexed why officials were playing a dance to keep him happy, but away from Harry”.

The author alleged that Harry had asked for David to be kept at a distance from him at the Games – and that this request had originally come from Meghan Markle.

meghan and harry in 2022© GETTY

The author alleged: “Photographs of the two together were forbidden. The royal snub was brutal. David Beckham was puzzled.

“Why did the Prince refuse to meet him? The exclusion order, it later transpired, was issued by Meghan.

“She did not want any competition in the media from Beckham, and especially not from his wife Victoria”, as reported by the Mirror.

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A few years later, when the opportunity came up to support Prince William, David was reportedly keen to do so – with the two brothers having now began a strained relationship since the Sussexes move to the US.

During the 2022 World Cup, William invited David to Boston for the Earthshot Prize. The former footballer then flew nearly 8,000 miles to support the launch of the awards – which aims to find solutions to the climate crisis. According to Bower, this move showed that David “had got his revenge for the Sydney snub”.