Latest news with #Beckhams
Metro
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Metro
I tried Heathrow's £3,177 VIP terminal — how the other half fly
You know how airports have lounges – pay as you go, business class, first class and even those that go one tier above? But did you know there's a level even higher, so elite they don't call it a lounge, they call it a suite? That's where I'm writing this from. I'd heard that Heathrow Airport had reopened their Windsor Suite – used by the likes of the Beckhams and Prince Harry – after a major upgrade. Up until 2008, only diplomats and royals could use the service, but it was expanded ahead of the London 2012 Olympics. And, when I was invited to test it out, I thought I'd never live it down if I didn't take my family along with me. The first excitement came when our chauffeur pulled up at an entrance far from the normal drop-off zone and said 'I've got four VIPs' over the intercom. My four-year-old son still refers to himself as a VIP. I then gave my husband – who told me off for not telling him to dress a bit smarter – a quick briefing on what to expect: 'Give them our passports, and don't worry about the bags'. Immigration, bag-drop, check-in and security were going to be done as discreetly as possible; all we had to worry about was what we wanted from Michelin starred chef Jason Atherton's a la carte menu. There are eight suites at the terminal, but our very own waiting area was the Mayfair Lounge, one of the largest private rooms on offer. We had comfortable seating, a dining area, private bathroom, and – our children's favourite feature – a button that summoned staff in seconds. We weren't in the market, but if you're interested in high-end shopping, a private shopper will appear in a flash to guide you through the best Hermes and Louis Vuitton have to offer. Initially, I was worried that the bell would become irritating, but the staff seemed to love having the children around. In fact, they even took them for a 'backstage tour' of the kitchens and security so my husband and I could enjoy a glass of wine in peace. Once I'd polished off my rigatoni and a cheeky chicken burger on the side (well, why not?), representatives from our airline came to greet us and find out if we wanted to be first on the plane, or last. All too swiftly, it was time for our flight. After a rapid scan through the private security scanner, our chauffeur was waiting to take us on the seven-minute trip from terminal 5 to terminal 3. Regular passengers are told to allow 90 minutes for the same journey. More Trending As much as I enjoyed the luxury, service and comfort of the lounge, this was the most exciting bit. Our car was escorted along a city-sized road network, through the secret network of tunnels and along the runway to our waiting plane. We climbed a staircase that took us through a door most people wouldn't have seen as they boarded, and our host passed us over to the cabin crew's capable hands. I doubt we'll be travelling like this again soon, and taking our children to the airport will be a painful experience in the future, but overall I think if I could afford to do it again, I would. Arrival and check-in Regular terminal: Piccadilly Line, sweaty armpits, jostled by other people's bags, carrying your own bags. Queues and self-serve bag drops. First class lounge: You've still got to go through the main airport, you just do it a little quicker. Windsor Suite: Chauffeur driven, private entrance, concierge, bags taken care of. Regular travel: Queuing, rushing, processed cattle. First class lounge: Fast track, but still face potential for queues with other first and business class passengers. Windsor security: Private security with no queues, no rush and no public scrutiny or stress. Regular terminal: Lots of plastic seating, noise and distraction. No privacy and you've got to pay for all your snacks/restaurants. First class lounge: Shared space with other travellers, buffet or a la carte dining, and champagne. Windsor suite: Complete privacy, ample space to lounge around, a TV you can control, full a la carte menu, fine dining and a butler service. Regular travel: Walking forever to get to the gate, more waiting and more queuing. First class: You still have to walk to the gate, but you get priority boarding. Windsor suite: Chauffeur driven from your lounge to your aircraft – you can request being let on first or last. Regular travel: Most travellers. First class: Premium passengers and frequent flyers. Windsor suite: Royals, celebrities, the new Pope and (for one time only) me. Regular terminal: Free. First class lounge: Free with first class ticket. Windsor suite: Packages start at £3,177 (+VAT) for you and three guests. Access is reserved for high-profile travellers or can be booked separately if you're in business or first. MORE: Emirates business class review: I 'turned left' — now I'm ruined for life MORE: What I Own: At 22 and 23, we bought a run-down London four-bed for £910,000 MORE: Plane suddenly drops 500 feet to 'avoid mid-air collision' with British jet fighter
Daily Mail
12-07-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
What it's REALLY like cruising with billionaires on the world's most exclusive ship, where apartments cost up to £12 million
Money talks – we all know that. But even if you have £12 million or so in the kitty and want to buy a three bedroom apartment (please don't call it a cabin) at the stern of the ship, there's no guarantee you'll be successful. None whatsoever. 'We're not dazzled by wealth and our residents cherish privacy,' says Fernando Arroyo, general manager of The World, the only fully residential cruise ship on the high seas. 'If someone like the Beckhams came along and wanted to buy we would politely say no. They just wouldn't be the right fit. It would become a circus.'
The Sun
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Sun
Brooklyn Beckham unfollows his brothers just hours after reaching out to sister Harper on her birthday as feud deepens
BROOKLYN Beckham has unfollowed his brothers Cruz and Romeo on social media. The star, 26, made the shock move today just hours after reaching out to sister Harper to mark her 14th birthday. 2 2 It was hoped that Brooklyn was extending an olive branch to his family yesterday with his post. He shared a snap where he could be seen standing with wife Nicola Peltz, with sister Harper in the middle. Alongside it, he wrote: "Happy birthday Harper, we love u x," and tagged his wife Nicola in the shot. It was the first time Brooklyn has referenced his family in months - with him accused of snubbing Victoria and David on social media on significant days, including Mother's Day and David's 50th. The aspiring chef has had no contact with his famous parents David and Victoria for months after a row over money tore a wedge between them. Last month, insiders told The Sun about the real reason behind Brooklyn's rift with his parents, explaining it was sparked by a row over money. Brooklyn and Nicola, who wed in April 2022, have bought a palatial new home in the states which cost them just over £10.5million. Those close to Brooklyn and Nicola claimed that David and Victoria were 'tight' and hadn't helped out with financing the move. But those close to the Beckhams claimed this was 'nonsense,' adding: 'David and Victoria will always support Brooklyn if and when he needs it. 'When he was setting up on his own, they would regularly help him out — as parents do — but they won't spoil him. They still help all their grown-up kids.' Earlier this year The Sun told how David and Victoria were 'anguished' by how far the feud had gone. A social media post by Brooklyn, which those close to the Beckhams said felt 'pointed', saw Brooklyn saying to Nicola: 'I always choose you baby.' Insiders close to the former Spice Girl and ex England captain said they were 'devastated' by the lack of contact and said they believed Nicola was 'controlling' Brooklyn. A source added: 'It shows how much this situation with his family has escalated. 'It's very sad for everyone involved, especially David and Victoria who love him very much. This isn't the Brooklyn his family knows and loves. 'This post was like a dagger to their hearts but they will always be there for Brooklyn.' Those close to Brooklyn however insisted there was nothing sinister about the post, telling The Sun: 'They are unbelievably smitten, and for him, social media is another way of showing his love. 'Brooklyn would be happy to meet his parents behind closed doors and hopes for a reconciliation.' The Sun revealed how Brooklyn and Nicola, 30, had returned to London to film a huge Moncler advert campaign in London in May. He was just minutes away from the Beckhams' home in Holland Park but failed to reach out. Those close to Brooklyn said at the time the shoot had a quick turnaround and that their schedules had not lined up.
Yahoo
08-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Rooneys can be ‘bigger than Beckhams & the Kardashians' as Coleen & Wayne welcome cameras into their home for £10m Disney+ documentary
WHAT HAPPENED? Manchester United legend Rooney and his wife have signed up to a 10-episode production with global streaming giants that is reportedly worth £10 million ($14m). Coleen's earning power is now said to have outstripped her ex-England captain husband. Advertisement THE GOSSIP The Rooneys are preparing to welcome cameras into their home, as the lid is lifted on their private lives. They are far from being the first to take that step, but they could go on to become one of the most successful. Kai Rooney Wayne Coleen WHAT A SOURCE SAID A source has told OK!: 'They could be bigger than not just the Beckhams, but the Kardashians. Obviously, Wayne's work as a manager hasn't gone as they'd have hoped, but they're seeing this as a new chapter. There's been so many rumours and so much drama around them, they're going to set the record straight on a few things too.' DID YOU KNOW? PR guru Dermot McNamara added: 'This will be their biggest test yet because, even though they've been famous since they were teenagers, we haven't ever seen what their lives are really about. People think making a reality show is easy, but it's not. It's going to be extremely intense for them.' Advertisement He went on to say of the challenges that Wayne and Coleen are about to face: 'Just because you're famous and have a lot of money doesn't mean you're immune to bad press or irrelevance – every brand can tire, even the Rooney brand. Even with their family name, they need to remain relevant, otherwise Wayne would just be seen as a footballer from back in the day. 'The Rooneys need to be authentic and real. They shouldn't try too hard to be seen as relatable. They became millionaires before they turned 18 and we know they live a life totally different to ours – and that's OK. They need to make sure they don't hide from that and don't be condescending to the audience.' Wayne Rooney and his wife Coleen WHAT NEXT FOR ROONEY? Coleen is seeing her stock soar on the back of a successful appearance on the 2024 edition of I'm A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here, while Wayne is back on punditry duty after flopping in two more managerial stints at Birmingham and Plymouth.
New Statesman
08-07-2025
- Entertainment
- New Statesman
Britain has always loved nepo babies
Photo by Lodovico Colli di Felizzano/WWD It's like a Mario Puzo novel: the Beckhams are brawling. If you are to take the Daily Mail at their word, David and Victoria 'have become estranged' from the eldest son Brooklyn, who is supposedly trapped in a prenup arrangement with notorious actress-heiress Nicola Peltz Beckham. To add insult to injury, online onlookers have started to make fun of Cruz Beckham, 20, for playing guitar in an indie rock band. 'Are you going to stick with this job or going to become a race car driver next or something?' asked one TikTok commenter under some clips of him mid-shred. 'Wrong brother mate,' he replied. Perhaps Cruz is right to distance himself from his sibling, who has accidentally become a boogeyman for his downwardly-mobile contemporaries. In 2025, many are struggling just to get a job interview – but Brooklyn has been a model, a hapless online chef, a hot-sauce entrepreneur and a not-very-good published photographer. ('Elephants in Kenya,' goes a caption from his photography book, next to an image of an elephant-shaped shadow. 'So hard to photograph but incredible to see.') Brooklyn is the archetypal 'nepo baby,' allowed to fail upwards because of celebrity parents. 'The entertainment industry has never been a meritocracy,' began the New York Magazine cover story that helped popularise the term three years ago. But the article went on to claim we were living in a 'nepo-baby boom,' surrounded by an unusual number of actors and singers leeching off their famous relatives. When you look at the rest of human history it seems likely that we've just stepped slightly out of a 200-year lacuna. Our modern conception of the celebrity – a unique talent nurtured by press – is relatively new. It most likely began on the Victorian stage with the astronomical success of non-nepo Sarah Bernhardt; Clara Bow, the first woman famed for her non-inherited but natural 'It' factor, came out of nowhere a century ago. Millennia have been spent going the other way. All the major ancient pantheons had twisty family trees; biblical figures in the Old Testament constantly begat other figures. And most world civilisations on record have been ruled by nepo babies, or at least by those who have plotted to depose them. We have had no time to rejig our expectations. It's no longer in vogue to say that our remaining monarchs have a direct stamp of approval from God – but there are few other conclusions to make about our new celebrity class. Minor sightings result in hysteria; red carpets command press cavalcades; props, costumes and personal belongings make big money at auction. Why wouldn't these supernatural qualities pass from generation to generation? The religious have collected sacred relics for centuries; surely the most exciting relic to see, the one bearing the largest volume of original biological detritus, is a living child. Like every great historical dynasty, the Beckhams are doing a public service by moving fact to the more interesting realm of fiction. Ask any casting agent from the world of reality TV: those with enough talent to rise up through meritocracy are too busy grinding on the job to produce any good interpersonal drama. But intergenerational sagas are everywhere in literature because the plots never get old; as Tolstoy said, each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. Brooklyn's troubles in the kitchen and on safari have a Waughesque air about them; the battle between the Peltzes and the Beckhams seems to have been lifted word-for-word from the soap opera Dynasty. And we cannot help but root for Cruz, who would probably be the earnest, field-tilling character in a long Russian novel collaged together from the Sidebar of Shame. He will never manage to dissociate himself from the rest. But he shouldn't have to. Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month Subscribe I am not a nepo baby; before becoming a journalist I knew nobody in the industry, although I did once try to stake a Tess of the d'Urbervilles-style claim to literary status after hearing that one of my ancestors supposedly fled Nazi Germany with Thomas Mann. Those of us who jeer at the nepo babies have no idea how romantic and fun it feels to almost be one. We should make fewer complaints and start falsifying our family trees; it's time to operate by the real rules of Qing China or Plantagenet England. All of history is ours to play with. [See more: Stop taking Glastonbury so seriously] Related
