Meet the new Posh ‘n’ Becks
The heirs to Britain’s biggest celebrity brand make their debut
The union in 1999 of one Victoria Adams and
David Beckham was the “wedding of the decade”, says Guy Kelly in The
Telegraph. Older readers may remember it for the thrones. The event was splashed over the newspapers, and was as extravagant as you’d expect for a couple that at some points seemed to have replaced the royal family in the obsessions of the gossip columnists, if not the hearts of the nation. At the nuptials, rose petals were generously scattered, a dove was released when the pair said “I do”, and Victoria’s Vera Wang gown with sculpted neckline came with a 20ft train. With his marriage to heiress Nicola Peltz earlier this month, the couple’s son Brooklyn followed in his parents’ footsteps.
There were no doves or thrones, but like the Beckhams senior the young couple were far from averse to splashing out, notes Kelly. Brooklyn proposed to his bride-to-be with a £250,000 diamond ring. The actual event is estimated to have cost £3m and took place at the Peltz family’s $76m, 27-bedroom, oceanfront house in Palm Beach, Florida. There were three days of festivities for 500 guests, all in massive marquees, featuring a one-hour performance by singer Marc Anthony and a set by “Fat Tony”, one of the world’s most popular DJs. The Beckhams senior gifted the happy couple a £500,000 classic Jaguar XK140, converted to run on electricity.
That would seem somewhat over the top at the best of times, but when the rest of us are going through a “once-in-a-generation cost of living crisis”, it seems “sickeningly extravagant”, says Dan Wootton in the Daily Mail. The whole event was “garish, gauche and grotesque”. But the rich are different, and the event will barely have made a dent in the bank accounts of the parents. Nelson Peltz has an estimated fortune of £1.3bn, says Laura Pullman in The Sunday Times – putting the “mere £380m” pile of the Beckhams in the shade.
Being to cooking what Posh was to singing
The new in-laws might be a helpful acquisition for the Beckhams. Peltz should, for example, be able to provide some helpful advice to Victoria, whose fashion and beauty empire has made losses of upwards of £50m and not recorded a profit since 2016. And Victoria and David might be relieved that their son is set up for life – his attempts at making his own living hosting a cookery show attracted little more than “derision”, says Pullman. Brooklyn is clearly no chef: he “is to cooking what Posh was to singing”, a source close to the production of his show told The New York Post, adding that he needed an illustrated “cheat sheet” for basic terminology, such as “whisk” and “parboil”.
Still, his in-laws can rest assured that at least Brooklyn is no fortune hunter. He has already taken advantage of his 13 million Instagram followers to enter the “lucrative influencer world of so-called brand ambassadors” and “enjoyed a few paydays to cover at least some of his own bills” – landing a £100,000 advertising deal with Huawei to plug a smartphone as well as £1m to be the face of the fashion brand Superdry. The new Posh and Beck, “heirs to Britain’s biggest celebrity brand”, are off to a good start.
“Nelson Peltz has an estimated fortune of £1.3bn – putting the ‘mere £380m’ pile of the Beckhams in the shade”