When Brooklyn Beckham was a little boy, he loved nothing more than to play with his best friends – Gordon Ramsay’s children.
He was particularly close to Jack and Holly, the chef’s twins who were born just nine months after him.
As the Beckhams and the Ramsays lived life in the limelight on both sides of the Atlantic, their children had much in common. Together they experienced the ups – and downs – of being the offspring of global celebrities.
As well as spending holidays and Christmases together, they shared jokes and secrets. But as Holly prepares to walk down the aisle this weekend at her much talked about wedding to Olympic swimmer Adam Peaty, Brooklyn will be a notable absentee.
While his parents David and Victoria will be there with their other three children – Romeo, Cruz and Harper – the 26-year-old influencer and his wife Nicola Peltz will not. Instead, they are expected to be spending the festive period in America with Nicola’s parents Nelson and Claudia and her siblings at their Palm Beach mansion.
Giving the wedding a miss means that they will, of course, escape an awkward encounter with Brooklyn’s parents, with whom the pair are now in open war.
Sources familiar with the nuptials say that Brooklyn, as someone who was once a central part of the Ramsay/Beckham gatherings, ‘will of course be missed’.
But the truth is that his parents and siblings are not the only guests Brooklyn has distanced himself from. Despite being best friends since they were toddlers, I’m told that his relationship with Gordon and Tana’s eldest son Jack – now in the Marines – has sadly fizzled out.
Brooklyn Beckham and Nicola Peltz will not be at Adam Peaty and Holly Ramsay’s wedding
The Olympic swimmer is set to marry Ms Ramsay, a childhood friend of Brooklyn, this weekend
Tana and Gordon Ramsay are said to be upset as they view the Beckhams as almost like family
Join the debate
Is Brooklyn right to cut off old friends and family after finding love, or is loyalty more important?
They are believed not to have spoken for some time now. In fact, according to friends of both families, their bond began to unravel when Brooklyn began dating Nicola.
And, like Brooklyn’s parents, there was no sign of Jack at Brooklyn and Nicola’s service to renew their wedding vows in the summer. It is not known if Brooklyn was invited to Holly’s wedding and declined or if he didn’t make the guest list.
But informed sources suggest it would be unlike Holly to have snubbed him because, when it comes to Brooklyn, the Ramsays are thought to take the view ‘the door is always open for him’.
And they feel it is a ‘huge shame’ he isn’t going as he and Holly were once very close – he and Jack even closer.
‘David and Victoria see Gordon and Tana almost as family. The kids all grew up together. Brooklyn always loved his time with them all but his and Jack’s friendship isn’t really there any more which is a great shame.
‘Gordon and Tana have been upset at the fall-out too. They are very, very fond of Brooklyn. They’ve known him since he was tiny.
‘Brooklyn doesn’t appear to see many of his friends he hung out with before Nicola any more and that is very sad. These are people who he goes way back with and Holly is one of them.
‘But then, should Brooklyn have been there, there would have been quite the scene, what with his parent being there.’
The news that Brooklyn will be a no-show at Holly’s big day comes just days after it was revealed that he had blocked his parents and younger brother Cruz on the social media platform Instagram. It is not known if he has also blocked Harper, 14, as she has her account set to private, making it impossible to establish her status one way or the other.
David and Victoria see Brooklyn’s move as a sign of ‘complete estrangement’ following their huge fall-out in the spring when Brooklyn and Nicola snubbed all of the former England captain’s 50th birthday celebrations.
Despite their feud, both sides had – until the weekend – continued to keep relations friendly on Instagram, where their lives are played out in a never-ending stream of posts and short-form videos.
But yesterday The Sun reported that the reason Brooklyn had blocked his parents and youngest brother was because his mother ‘liked’ a video he posted of himself roasting a chicken in which he discussed beer-brining the bird to give it extra flavour.
Posh’s move prompted many of their mutual followers to call for mother and son to build bridges, which is said to have annoyed Brooklyn. Shortly afterwards he blocked his immediate family. This prompted Cruz to take to Instagram – where else? – to explain that his parents, far from blocking their oldest son, ‘woke up blocked’ by him.
Meanwhile, sources close to Brooklyn told this newspaper yesterday that he finds his parents’ posts ‘anxiety-inducing.’
Team Brooklyn also says that he and Nicola are not prepared to forgive his parents until they make a public apology for their part in a briefing war between the two sides.
Though Brooklyn and Nicola are believed to have also briefed media outlets on negative accounts about Posh and Becks, as one source says: ‘They seem to have forgotten about that.’
It’s undeniable that the feud blowing up now is going to cast something of a shadow over the Beckhams’ Christmas.
The couple has accepted the schism for what it is, though they are terribly upset for their parents – Brooklyn’s grandparents – with whom he was once so close.
But back to the Ramsay/Peaty wedding, which is expected to be conducted at Bath Abbey on Saturday, with a lavish reception thought to be taking place at Kin Hall in Wiltshire.
That too has been something of a saga – and one that is intertwined with the Beckhams.
Indeed, when pictures emerged of Victoria at Holly’s hen party at the exclusive Soho Farmhouse in October, Adam’s own mother Caroline was conspicuously absent.
Things spiralled from there and Peaty’s once beloved mum finds herself off the guest list (amid claims that Holly didn’t approve of the dress she’d bought to wear) along with his father and two brothers.
It is understood that the brideto-be didn’t think that her future mother-in-law’s outfit fitted in with the ‘look’ of her day and offered to buy her another one.
Meanwhile, Adam, 30, has fallen out with his brothers Richard and James – with the latter arrested for harassment last month after allegedly sending the swimmer messages while he was on his stag do in Budapest. Of Adam’s family, only his sister Beth is expected to attend the nuptials.
So on Saturday, when Holly, 25, takes her vows, the scale of the conflict in these warring families will be clear for all to see.
‘If Brooklyn hadn’t fallen out with his own family, then maybe he would be there,’ said one source. ‘The sad thing is that he would have most probably really enjoyed himself.
‘But families are families and everyone is going to do their very best to have a great time and let their hair down after what has been a very difficult year.’
