Yes, Royal isn't class after all! With
wittily, and carefully, curated glimpses of their private lives on social
media, David and Victoria Beckham show the Royals how to make the most from a
family brand.
Had
it not been for the (at the time of writing) 573,000 likes, it could have been
mistaken for any other post on Instagram; a proud dad’s picture of his four
kids, captured walking their dog in a darkening woodland park as the sun set.
The
reason for the picture going viral? It just so happened to be David Beckham
with the cameraphone and his kids Brooklyn, Romeo, Cruz, and Harper who were in
the picture.
There’s
probably only one other family who are as famous as the Beckhams in the UK–the
Cambridges.
But
what a remarkable difference that one picture points up between the two
families very different approaches to the unique challenges of dealing with
massive global fame.
The
Beckhams' accepting and positive attitude to social media is in stark contrast
to the increasingly paranoid mentality displayed by the Royals, which is doing
so much to limit their freedom, forcing them into a self-imposed gilded cage.
In
August, Kensington Palace released an emotional letter, warning that if the
“dangerous and distressing” tactics of paparazzi photographers pursuing the
royal children were not curtailed, Prince George and Princess Charlotte would
be at risk of growing up, “exclusively behind palace gates and in walled
gardens.”
William
and Kate, the letter said, want “both children to be free to play in public and
semi-public spaces with other children without being photographed."
Two
years ago, the British Royals roped in David Beckham as an informal mentor for
Prince Harry, when it appeared his drinking was getting out of control after he
was sick in a London nightclub toilet.
Beckham
is not teetotal, but he drinks in very strict moderation, and there was a hope
that he might be able to show Harry that getting legless is not a prerequisite
for a good night out.
To
be honest, it’s no longer Harry who needs the mentoring. It’s William. And the
demon drink is not the subject on which he needs an education; it’s a Beckham
lesson on fame in the era of the iPhone that needs to be drilled into William’s
head.
William,
quite reasonably given what happened to his mother, has a hatred of intrusive
and what the palace terms ‘unauthorized’ photography.
 |
| Britain's Prince Harry with David Beckham (Radu Sigheti/Reuters | | |
But
while once upon a time, trying to stop ‘unauthorized’ pictures being taken and
published was within the realms of possibility, in the era of the camera phone
and social media, it is an impossible dream. To paraphrase Kurt Vonnegut, being
anti-social media is a bit like being anti-glacier.
People
will take pictures of the future King and his sister when they see them, indeed
one could make a convincing argument that as taxpayers funding the royal
lifestyle, we plebs are very much entitled to do so. Will and Kate may not like
it, but pictures of the young royals will be taken whenever they are in a
public or semi-public place.
Will
and Kate are far from unique in having this admittedly trying situation imposed
on them. Every mega-celeb has the same problem. The Beckhams would certainly be
able to relate.
Indeed
there was recently a glimmer of hope, an encouraging sign that Kate may be
taking a more realistic line on the issue, when she took George to the National
History Museum in London to view the dinosaur bones.
It
was right and proper that such an important rite of passage for a London child
was conducted within normal opening hours.
And
guess what? A few pictures of George and his mom made it onto Twitter. The
world didn’t grind to a halt.
Victoria
Beckham could have told her this. She regularly shares pictures of her kids on
Instagram with her 7.7 m followers.
The
ease with which their parents approach social media has no doubt helped the
Beckham children grow up as apparently well balanced social media users.
Brooklyn,
David and Victoria’s oldest son, is a keen instagrammer, whose 4.8 million
followers know many details of his life, including his favorite new toys such
as his Leica R9 and hoverboard.
Refusing
to be cowed by social media is important in its own right, but there’s also an
important professional dividend for the Beckhams. They make tantalizing
glimpses of their family life public, allowing them to keep their private life
truly private—it's a canny sleight of hand.
Because
Victoria and David’s Instagram feeds feel so authentic, when they do use their
feeds to promote causes or business, the fans don’t resent it.
For
example, David’s currently posting about his 10-day, 10-nation football
fundraiser and Victoria recently interspersed shout-outs to the charity
mothers2mothers and Christopher Bailey (for his new Burberry campaign featuring
her kids) with pictures of fake tattoos drawn on David’s hand by his daughter
Harper.
It’s
smart, simple—and as honest as any celebrity media channel can be.
Contrast
this with the Cambridge’s clunky use of social media.
Since
the Palace started to send out tweets from the @kensingtonroyal account in
earnest last year, the tone has been utterly bewildering and completely
non-uniform.
It’s
hard to avoid the impression that the social media account is being updated by
an unpaid intern.
For
example, the account usually majors on official announcements, or tweeting out
snippets of Prince Harry’s latest speech, then it does something really weird,
like post a picture of Prince William and Kate when they were at university.
Yes,
there has been a ‘social media strategy’ at Kensington Palace, but it’s been
handled horribly. But how could any such strategy be a success when it’s all
too clear that the principal actors in the drama—Will, Kate and Harry—have a
deep-seated belief that social media is the work of the devil.
Unsurprisingly,
therefore, the Royal accounts come across as advertising, clearly managed by
‘their people’.
In
real life, the Beckhams share with the Cambridges a love of domesticity. Both
families like nothing better than a quiet night in with popcorn and a box set.
But
the Beckhams understand that part of public life for the mega-famous these days
is being prepared to share carefully curated 'private' moments with millions of
fans.
If
Kate and William really want their kids to have some kind of normal life, they
could do worse than take a leaf out of the Beckham playbook.
Giving
all those cute childhood moments away for free could just be the most effective
way of starving the hated paps out of business.
Will
and Kate’s solution to the problem of photographer harassment—going into
solitary family confinement—is only making things worse.
The
price payable for the first candid picture of George, Charlotte, William and
Kate climbs every day they lock themselves away from all lenses in their
Norfolk palace.
The
international tabs, mags and websites which feed off such images are only made
more and more desperate by the ever-extending wait.
Allowing
lots and lots of pictures of your kids to be published on Instagram, Facebook
and Twitter—whether taken by yourself or your pals or other punters at the
National History Museum—doesn’t harm them.
It doesn’t make them commodities.
It
does the exact opposite. Indeed, deployed cleverly, it could help the Royals
publicly and privately.
The former England captain was
leading the Great Britain & Ireland XI at Old Trafford as they beat a Rest
of the World side 3-1 to help raise money for children worldwide.
