Did Brooklyn Beckham Borrow from Prince Harry?

No, this has nothing to do with picking sides, which TBQH, is hard to do in family matters as emotionally charged as this. Rather, I was reminded of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey and the Royal Family’s vague-yet-devastating response; Both instances exhibit the tragedy of high-profile British family estrangement.

After all, it was January 2020 when Harry and Meghan dropped the news, also via Instagram, that they would be stepping down as senior members of the royal family. Up until that point, rumors of a family feud between the Sussexes and the then-Cambridges (Prince William and Kate Middleton) were rampant. But after Harry and Meghan’s departure from royal life—and subsequent sit-down with Winfrey where specific allegations about everything from a lack of security to racism were made—the response from the palace was swift: “While some recollections may vary, they are taken very seriously and will be addressed by the family privately,” was the all-too-brief statement issued from Buckingham Palace at the time.

It was the shocking simplicity of that three-word phrase—recollections may vary—that made it so memorable. It was deployed to cast a shadow of doubt on the allegations as they were described by Harry and Meghan. As we discussed on the Royally Obsessed podcast, which I was co-host of at the time, the reality is that every story has two sides. The truth often lies somewhere in the middle. Still, in the case of family matters, whose record does one ultimately believe?

That brings me back to the Beckhams. In Brooklyn’s effort to set the record straight, he, like Harry in Spare, doesn’t mince words. In his allegations, he is specific, direct; also, vulnerable and clear. There’s power—gravity even—that comes when you cut the middleman out. (Brooklyn’s statement didn’t come via a publicist or an anonymous leak to a journalist. These are words we can assume he typed himself.)

The royal overlap didn’t end there. As I digested Brooklyn’s words, it was hard not to notice that many of the revelations themselves dovetailed with Harry and Meghan’s plight. His claims that Brand Beckham will always come first; how, for Brooklyn’s entire life, he alleged that the press was used to control family narratives; even “wedding gate”—Brooklyn’s detailed account of his mother, Victoria, deciding at the last minute not to design a wedding gown for his wife, Nicola Peltz Beckham—felt eerily familiar. (Remember the awful back-and-forth about whether it was Meghan who made Kate cry ahead of her wedding to Prince Harry or the other way around?)

Still, it’s that phrase, “recollections may vary,” which, at the time, read as distant and cruel, but quickly became a part of royal—and certainly British—vernacular, that continues to resonate. This level of explosive celebrity family drama brings me right back to that moment. Will David—who famously joined the queue of the late Queen Elizabeth II and was recently knighted by King Charles—and Victoria reach for a similar script? Or will the Beckhams chart a different, more heartfelt path?

Brooklyn was clear: He has no interest in reconciliation. That’s where he and Prince Harry diverge. The Duke of Sussex has been open about his interest in reconciling with his family. (“There’s no point in continuing to fight anymore,” he told the BBC last spring.)

As with the royals, the situation is too private and complicated for knowing who is right. But if we’ve learned anything from Harry, it’s that moving forward and being open can bring a certain freedom. There’s power enough in that.