Inside Meghan’s ‘spat’ with Posh: Royal biographer Tom Bower claims duchess ‘feared she would be upstaged by the Beckham’s during her first royal tour to Australia – and she was “irritated” over David’s friendship with Prince William’

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry fell out with Victoria and David Beckham after the Duchess feared their friends would upstage them, a biographer has claimed.

The spat between the celebrity couples seemingly dates back to 2018 – the year Meghan and Harry got married – with the row heightened when the Sussexes snubbed the Beckhams during their visit to Sydney in October that year.

The Duke of Sussex had invited footballer David to attend a competition for injured servicemen during the Invictus Games, but refused to interact with him at the event.

Royal biographer Tom Bower, writing for The Sun, claims Harry kept his distance from David because Meghan did not want competition in the media. He also alleges she did not like the footballer’s friendship with Prince William.

Mr Bower also alleged that the Duchess was frustrated that Spice Girl turned fashion designer Victoria was reluctant to supply her with free clothes and accessories from her label, despite the requests being against Palace rules.

The alleged details into the spat have made headlines as it was revealed that Harry and Meghan are planning to produce a Netflix movie in a bid to firm up their futures in Hollywood after a turbulent few months saw them part ways with music and podcast giant Spotify.

David and Victoria showed kindness towards Meghan ever since she moved into Harry’s cottage in Kensington Palace in 2017, the biographer claims. 

Victoria, in what Mr Bower describes as an attempt to ‘build their relationship’, offered Meghan make-up advice. A member of the designer’s staff is also understood to have helped Meghan with facials and hairdressing.

But the royal couple allegedly had a suspicion that the Beckhams leaked stories about Meghan’s help from Victoria to the press – a claim the former Spice Girl denied and left David reportedly feeling ‘absolutely bloody furious’.

The Beckhams also hosted Meghan in their six-bedroom house in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles before her marriage to Harry. The couple’s staff tended to Meghan’s needs at no cost during her private visit to California, Mr Bower claimed.

Harry and Meghan then decided not to invite the Beckhams to their wedding dinner, despite the fact that they were asked to attend the marriage ceremony at St George’s Chapel. Mr Bower claims the move was a ‘near-unforgivable insult’, citing that many Hollywood stars who attended the dinner ‘were not friends’.

But regardless of the alleged slight, David still accepted Harry’s invitation to attend the Invictus Games. He travelled to Sydney in October 2018 but then never even had face time with the Duke.

Mr Bower alleges that during this time Harry and Meghan had been regularly searching themselves on the internet to look for hateful comments about themselves. 

He claims at that point Meghan was ‘not prepared to tolerate anything flattering regarding the Beckhams and the Games to appear in the media’.

David found the apparent move to keep him separated from Harry as ‘a bit strange’ but decided not to call the Prince about it, the biographer wrote, adding that he and Victoria ‘barely mentioned’ the slight during their stay at a rented house in North Shore, Sydney.

Regardless, the Beckhams seemingly tried to maintain a relationship with Harry and Meghan.

The couples were neighbours in Oxfordshire after the Beckhams built a home and Harry was renting a converted barn. The biographer claims that while the men ‘occasionally meet at weekends’, Meghan had already ‘put on airs’.

Victoria lent Meghan a coat during the Christmas holidays, which the Duchess wore on Christmas day 2018 during a walk with the Royal Family to the church at Sandringham.

The designer also produced a custom-made white coat and dress for Meghan in 2020 which she wore during her last appearance in Westminster Abbey in March that year. 

But Meghan, who was pregnant at the time, endorsing Victoria’s label had little impact on sales, Mr Bower alleged. He claims the only direct impact it had was that a £1,400 bag used by Meghan ‘sold out’ after being linked in a social media video.

Meanwhile, as Harry and Meghan prepared to make their move to California and step away from royal life, the Beckhams refused to take sides in the alleged row between the Sussexes and Prince William and his wife Kate.

David and William are understood to have had a good relationships since England’s World Cup bid in 2010, which Mr Bower claims ‘annoyed the Sussexes’.

Their alleged distaste towards the Beckhams friendship with the then-Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, was furthered last year when David flew from Qatar to Boston during the World Cup to help William and Kate with their philanthropic efforts. 

American media highlighted the moment David kissed Kate on the cheek as she hosted the Earthshot prize ceremony alongside her husband.

The now Prince and Princess of Wales’ ceremony, which was attended by President Joe Biden, seemingly upstaged an event hosted by the Sussexes in New York that same weekend.

Mr Bower says the spat was again furthered just two weeks ago when the Beckhams hosted a star-studded celebration after Lionel Messi scored a last-minute for David’s football team in Miami, Florida.

Meghan and Harry were reportedly not invited to the party, which is understood to have carried on for hours. 

The biographer alleged that Meghan ‘pushed’ Victoria away over the last few years, adding that she may have done ‘much better’ with the British public if ‘she copied Victoria’ instead.

Mr Bower’s claims about the row between the couples comes as it was revealed last night that Harry and Meghan reportedly bought the rights to the romantic novel Meet Me At The Lake by Carley Fortune, which experts estimate could have cost them up to £3million.

The production will mark their first off-camera project together, in what could be a make-or-break moment for their TV fortunes.

Meet Me At The Lake, which sold 37,000 copies in its first week alone, is a romantic fiction based on two people who kindle a romance with one another in their 30s – much like the Duke and Duchess themselves.

It also describes the trauma faced by a character who lost a parent in a car crash as a child, and goes on to cover themes including alcohol and drug use – topics which the Prince talked about at length in his bombshell memoir Spare. 

And in a nod to Meghan’s past, the novel is based in Toronto, where the actress lived while filming Suits. 

An insider told the Sun: ‘The themes of the book gripped the couple and it was chosen for their first adaptation with Netflix.’

The project comes after the couple lost their reported-£16million deal with Spotify after one series of Meghan’s podcast Archetypes. 

But the purchase of the rights will do Harry and Meghan little imminent good – because Hollywood has all but grind to a halt due to a screenwriters strike that has lasted for months, which many actors have joined.

Some PR experts have also questioned why the rights were sold to the couple, arguing the book was such a success, it would likely have been picked up by more experienced producers. 

Since leaving the life of working royals, the couple have caused controversy over their international hit Netflix series Harry and Meghan, and Prince Harry’s later release of his memoir Spare.

Both made a string of accusations against the royal family, most notably Harry’s brother, the Prince of Wales.

In one passage, the Duke of Sussex accused Prince William of attacking him at Frogmore Cottage, pushing him so hard that he fell to the floor and into a dog bowl.

Despite knowing that royal life was not ‘a world they wanted for their family’, as a friend has claimed, Harry and Meghan have faced some hard realities since they left to bring up their children away from the limelight of the Firm. 

Having signed major multi-million pound deals with giants Netflix and Spotify, as well as Harry’s own book deal, they have since faced hurdles including the loss of the Spotify partnership.

Meghan hosted a series of her Archetype podcast on the platform, but it has not been renewed by the streaming service and the couple announced in June they had ‘mutually’ agreed to part ways. 

They have also struggled to break into Hollywood, despite Meghan’s background as an actress in the hit-series Suits.

Although their docuseries Harry and Meghan was watched extensively all over the world, experts say their brand is a tricky one to sell, due to the drama surrounding them raising clients’ expectations.

But Harry is currently working on a series based around the Invictus Games, which he set up as an opportunity for ex-service people to compete in sports in a similar way to the Paralympics or Commonwealth games. Heart of Invictus is expected to be released on Netflix later this year. 

Their foundation Archewell has also hit some bumps in the road, with multiple staff members previously quitting the organisation, leaving multiple roles for the couple to try and fill.

The pair are also losing friends after reportedly falling out with Posh and Becks over allegations denied by the Beckhams that stories about the royal couple had been leaked to the press.

Losing the Beckhams could be problematic for Harry and Meghan as experts in the US explain celebrities are keen to distance themselves from the ‘melodramatic’ couple.

Celebrity publicist Mitchell Jackson told the Times on Friday night: ‘The problem with Harry and Meghan is after the whole car chase thing in New York, people just feel like they’re untrustworthy and melodramatic and it’s just going to revolve around them.’

American producer and journalist Paula Froelich added that celebrities do not want to endanger their chances of international success by appearing to ‘pick sides’ in the royal feud.

Citing the number of celebrities who have ambitions of conquering both the UK and US box offices with films or plays, she said: ‘Nobody wants to be seen as taking sides and nobody wants to be seen as friends of Harry and Meghan.

‘Because then it’s felt that Kate and William will likely not show up’.

Ms Froelich explained that the Prince and Princess of Wales’ ability to draw international coverage means most Hollywood stars hope they will attend a premiere in London.

Representatives for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been contacted for comment.