If Shakespeare’s ghost resides in a garret somewhere above the new Globe theatre, I imagine his head will be down, his quill furiously scratching across parchment.
His inspired new play would be of two great households torn asunder by headstrong sons and their B-list actress wives. The action would be set amid the splendour of London palaces – Buckingham and Beckingham – and across continents.
The colourful cast of characters comes straight from the ranks of royalty itself, including star-crossed semi-royals Harry and Meghan plus Posh and Becks, the quasi-royals of the celebrity world.
And the plot is, sadly, all too obvious: both these families, Windsor and Beckham, have been torn apart by estrangements from sons who now live thousands of miles away in California – and the drama has proved utterly compelling.
Millions of readers around the world have been – and are – transfixed.
That’s because, however privileged or plain ridiculous their respective situations might seem, the themes at the heart of them are as old and recognisable as humanity itself.
Neither of these rifts was expected. Both seemed to start when the happy-go-lucky sons in question, Prince Harry, 40, and Brooklyn, 26, married attractive and charismatic, but some might say power-hungry and narcissistic, women.
In Harry’s case, his union with Meghan Markle was followed by the tragic decision to set sail for suburban Montecito in America, where today he helps his wife sprinkle flower petals and stir homemade jam while claiming to relish the ‘privacy’ this affords him.
Brooklyn Beckham, 26, and his wife Nicola Peltz, 30. The pair married in April 2022
Harry’s union with Meghan Markle was followed by the tragic decision to set sail for suburban Montecito in America
Peltz and her mother-in-law Victoria Beckham pictured enjoying a drink together in 2021
This month the Prince gave a notably ill-judged interview to the BBC – perhaps to remind us that he’s still there – in which he lamented that his calls home go unanswered while admitting, crassly, that he doesn’t know how long his father – still receiving treatment for cancer – has left to live.
Brooklyn Beckham, too, has cut himself free from the shackles of his family, in his case to marry into the billionaire Peltz family – his father-in-law is the majority shareholder of the ubiquitous US fast-food chain Wendy’s.
Apparently, Brooklyn plans to make his own entrepreneurial way in the dog-eat-dog world of table sauce and condiments.
After marrying Nicola Peltz, four years his senior, in a glitzy ceremony in 2022, he, too, has found himself at loggerheads with his successful, loving and supportive parents back in England.
The Beckham rift was blown open for all to see in the past few days when Brooklyn failed to join his three younger siblings at David’s recent 50th birthday celebrations.
How confusing and painful for 13-year-old Harper and her brothers, Romeo, 22, and Cruz, 20, who must desperately miss their big brother.
Perhaps unwittingly, Harry and Brooklyn have become the main characters in their unedifying theatricals. Both men seem to believe their grievances are real.
And it’s hard not to suppose they have been encouraged by their respective wives, whispering from the wings but seemingly keen to take centre stage.
Peltz and Posh Spice in happier times, before this tragic feud ripped the eldest Beckham son from the family
After marrying Peltz in a glitzy ceremony, Brooklyn has found himself at loggerheads with his successful, loving and supportive parents back in England
Looking back, their marriages were the turning point – moments in which everything changed. From then on, nothing would ever be the same.
How many of us know of families which, if not on such a public scale, suffer generational heartbreak, where a strong-minded individual – an egotist or a narcissist who has to make every situation all about them – has married into a previously happy family and pulled things apart?
I have seen how rapidly things can change. Disharmony creeps in. The situation can, eventually, become quite devastating.
I know of cases where the family members have made a bid to outwit a destructive incomer. I’ve watched as they tried to be one step ahead, attempted to plan and protect both the wider family and the ‘ensnared’ relative.
But such tactics only work for a short period of time until the inevitable crisis hits.
I find it desperately sad because I know how supportive caring in-laws can be.
My children had wonderful relationships with grandparents from both sides of the family. I would struggle to put into words how deeply those relationships contributed to their wellbeing.
I treasured my own mother-in-law. Indeed, the last words she spoke before she died in hospital in Fazakerley, Liverpool, were to me and they were: ‘I love you.’ I loved her in return.
Even though she died 20 years ago, we have never forgotten her and often talk about the funny moments. ‘She’s no better than she thinks she is, that one,’ is one of the many things ‘Nana Doll’, as she was known, would say.
‘Nana Doll loves an empty plate’ is another of her top phrases, often quoted as we clear up after dinner.
Little reminders like that bring back memories of how much she helped me as a new mother, and of her utter devotion to her son – something that made us all laugh, even him.
It lit up my heart. Her family values – principles which mirrored my own upbringing – were the bedrock upon which I raised our own close family.
Now, as I look through the endless coverage devoted to the Windsor and Beckham rifts, I ask myself if it will ever end. And the unfortunate truth is that it probably never will.
It has been suggested that David and Victoria themselves now fear this desperate situation cannot change – unless their son’s marriage to Nicola breaks apart.
Words and actions have consequences. There are things said which can never be unsaid or even forgiven – and the longer it continues, the worse it gets.
As for Prince Harry, his latest self-serving interview appears to have taken him past the point of no return.
Sadly, for both families, this tragedy is all too real, too recognisable. And, like Shakespeare’s best plays, it is set to run and run.
