Here are some photos from a St. James’s Palace reception yesterday. The reception was an “awards ceremony” for the King’s Foundation (formerly the Prince’s Foundation), honoring the work of teachers and partners who work in “sustainability, traditional heritage skills and environmental education.” Celebrities associated with the foundation were in attendance – Meryl Streep, Kate Winslet and the foundation’s ambassador David Beckham. Beckham is apparently being invested with a knighthood today, so this was a nice little pre-knighthood moment where David got to rub shoulders with Meryl, Kate and King Charles. It’s weird to see Meryl in this group, honestly, but I’m actually not surprised that she sucks up to British royalty. The same is true of Winslet. Meanwhile, soon after David’s appearance at this reception, the Times of London announced that David will be a big part of King Charles’s new documentary.

He has bonded with the King over bee-keeping, attended royal banquets and weddings and once flew to the rescue for an air-ambulance fundraiser led by the Prince of Wales. Now David Beckham, who has finally been granted a knighthood, has acquiesced to another royal request: to sprinkle a little celebrity stardust on the King’s forthcoming Amazon Prime film.

The former England football captain, who is to become a knight in the King’s birthday honours, will appear in the King’s feature-length documentary, which is due to be released late this year or at the beginning of 2026.

A film crew attended St James’s Palace on Thursday for the Amazon project that is designed to “show, not tell” viewers how to “transform people, places and ultimately the planet” according to the King’s philosophy. It will focus on the work being carried out by the King’s Foundation, for which Beckham is now an ambassador.

Filming began in January at Dumfries House in Scotland, the headquarters of the King’s Foundation, and will focus on the philosophy outlined by the King in his 2010 book Harmony: A new way of looking at our world in which he called for a “dramatic revolution” in the way we treat the planet.

A source close to David Beckham said that he had agreed to appear in the programme. A palace source said that the King was “greatly looking forward to seeing how the harmony concept can be communicated to a new and international audience, using some of the best creative talents in TV”.

The source added: “This is a chance to ‘show, not tell’ how they can transform people, places and ultimately the planet. I think many will be genuinely amazed at the scale, scope and vision of it all, for which Dumfries House continues to be the living laboratory”.

The Amazon film is a departure for the palace, which has previously preferred to work with UK networks such as the BBC and ITV. A film crew has spent time with the King and viewers will see him on engagements and with some of his celebrity supporters.

[From The Times]

Charles is no stranger to documentaries, and I maintain that Charles at 70 is one of the greatest “official” royal documentaries I’ve ever seen. He’s such a deeply eccentric man – I am convinced that he’s a terrible father/grandfather and he’s horrible to his family in general, but to see him “on the job” and talking to peasants… it’s just a fun documentary. The part where a young man asks Charles to pray with him lives in my head rent-free, as does the scene where Charles flirts with some young women at a makeshift gym. It sounds like Charles and the foundation people wanted to get some “celebrities” in this one to ensure that people would be interested in it. Who wants to see footage of David Beckham groveling and simpering for a knighthood?

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.