David Beckham attends first ever Palace state banquet as he sits next to unlikely guest
David and Victoria Beckham are among the 150 guests invited to a glittering state banquet at Buckingham Palace tonight.
The celebrity couple were invited because of their Qatari connections, with the former England football captain being an ambassador for the Qatar World Cup in 2022.
Mr Beckham was paid £10m to endorse the global showcase and came under significant criticism for his involvement.
He sat between Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch and Nasser Al-Khelaifi, a Qatari businessman who is president of Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), a French football club where Beckham ended his career. Qatar Sports Investments, founded by the Amir in 2005, owns PSG.
Mrs Beckham sat apart from her husband – as is custom – and was sat next to Lord Levy and Lord Darzi.
Their attendance tonight marks the first time Mr Beckham has attended a state banquet, though he has visited the Palace several times in the past.
In 2003 he received an OBE for services to football, collecting the honour from the late Queen Elizabeth at an investiture ceremony at the Palace.
