David Beckham Paid For A Couple's Honeymoon & Cleared Their Mortgage After A Wedding Venue Was Double-Booked
April 14, 2023 1:00 AM
This article is more than one year old.
Photo: © Soccer Aid for Unicef
We don't really do showbiz gossip here on Higgypop.com, but we do like to delve into conspiracies and urban legends from time to time, and this legend is one that just won't go away.
A few weeks ago, I heard some amazing local gossip from my mum. She had heard that my cousin's friend had booked their wedding at a posh venue nearby, Thornbury Castle, on September 1. Apparently, she had received a call from the hotel informing her that they had double-booked the venue.
However, instead of cancelling her booking, the hotel had offered to host her wedding for free on another date. But my cousin's friend declined the offer, as it would cause too much inconvenience for her guests.
The hotel then came back with a second offer. The client who had booked the hotel was a VIP and was willing to pay for their honeymoon if they agreed to change the date of the wedding. Despite this generous offer, my cousin's friend still refused, as she had already sent out the wedding invitations, and changing the date would be a major inconvenience for her guests.
The hotel staff, however, were not ready to give up just yet. They came back with a third and final offer, which was too good to resist. The VIP client was willing to pay off the mortgage on my cousin's friend's house if she agreed to change the date of her wedding. It was an offer that she simply couldn't refuse. So she agreed to change the date of her wedding and was able to have her dream wedding at Thornbury Castle.
She later found out that the VIP who had snapped up the hotel was none other than David Beckham, who had booked the hotel for his son Romeo's 21st birthday. A quick fact check revealed that Romeo's 21st did indeed coincide with the planned wedding.
It's also apparently true that Thornbury Castle has catered for David Beckham in the past, as well as other celebrities including Ricky Gervais and Courtney Cox.
This is Grade A gossip, so I told some friends. I can't remember who, but chances are they've gone off and told people "someone Steve knows has had their mortgage paid off by David Beckham."
Photo: © Nick Sarebi
The story popped into my head again this evening, and I wondered if it had made the press, as it was such a juicy bit of gossip. So I Googled it to see if the press had got wind of Romeo's exclusive party taking place nearby.
The first result was a discussion on a forum with the title "house and wedding paid for by David Beckham." I assumed this meant the story was out there, but then I noticed the thread was dated 2008. Scrolling through the post, my first thoughts were that, as a wealthy man, Beckham must have paid people off to get venues before. But as I read on, the tale became eerily similar.
Apparently, a couple planning their wedding at Alton Towers Hotel had received a call telling them their wedding was double-booked. They then received several offers, including a free wedding, a paid honeymoon, and their mortgage paid off, all courtesy of the Beckhams.
I headed over to Twitter, where I stumbled upon a tweet from 2013 in which the poster claimed that someone they knew had their mortgage paid off by David Beckham because they both booked the same days at Alton Towers. Did David Beckham really pay off a couple to book Alton Towers twice?
Another Twitter user shared a story about Beckham booking an entire hotel in Penzance and paying for a couple's wedding and mortgage. Someone else wrote, "just heard a story that David Beckham paid off someone's mortgage to have a specific room at Celtic Manor."
After digging around some more on Google, I found a news story from 2011 entitled "'The Beckhams paid my mortgage' – the urban legend that just won't die."
It mentioned the exact same story taking place with someone who'd booked Cameron House, an exclusive Loch Lomond venue. The Sunday Herald had written the article, and they decided to investigate. They reached out to Cameron House, who told them, "it's absolutely not true."
The article went on to say that the same story had been circulating since 1999 and had been attributed to various locations, including Alnwick Castle in Northumberland and a top hotel in London.
The reasons why the Beckhams have been so desperate to get hotels vary. Some claim it's to make way for a christening party for their daughter Harper, sometimes the stories date back even further to David and Victoria's own wedding, another story is that David wanted to use the hotel as a base during the Olympic torch relay during the 2012 Olympics in London. None of these claims have been confirmed.
It seems that the story has taken on a life of its own, with people sharing it as if it were fact. As I read the article, I realised that I too had shared the story without knowing if it was true. I had passed it on to others, who had probably shared it too, perpetuating the legend.
The problem with urban legends like this is that they are so juicy and gossip-worthy that people can't resist sharing them, even if they don't know if they are true or not.
So, the next time you hear a wild story like this, take it with a grain of salt. While it may be tempting to believe, it's important to remember that not everything you hear is true. And as for the legend of David Beckham paying off people's mortgages, it's just that: a legend.
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