From Megxit to Beckxit – How the British Press Profits From Tearing Down Women

The British press has once again found a way to drag Prince Harry and Meghan Sussex into a tabloid firestorm they didn’t create. This time, it’s over dinner. Brooklyn Beckham and Nicola Peltz attended a group meal at the Sussexes’ Montecito home — and that single fact was enough to set off a media circus. Within hours, headlines screamed about a so-called “Beckxit summit,” while tabloids invented a storyline about Meghan acting as a mediator between Brooklyn and his estranged father David Beckham.

Except, none of it is true. Not only did the Sussexes not personally invite the Peltz-Beckhams, but they weren’t the only guests there either. The media turned what was a quiet evening among film executives and friends into yet another excuse to attack Meghan. This time, they’re blaming her for drama in someone else’s family, a particularly cruel twist.

The Dinner Wasn’t a Summit and the Beckhams Were Not the Focus

Despite what The Sun implied on its front page, Meghan and Harry did not arrange a secret dinner meeting to help Brooklyn and Nicola resolve personal issues. PEOPLE Magazine confirmed that Harry and Meghan did not personally invite the couple. They arrived with other guests, as part of a wider group that included VIPs and industry figures.

The timing, coinciding with David Beckham’s 50th birthday, appears purely accidental. In fact, Brooklyn and Nicola had already missed several family functions, and their absence from those events had nothing to do with Meghan and Harry. Still, the media ran with the narrative. It was too good to resist. A glamorous dinner. An estranged son. And the ultimate tabloid villain — Meghan — supposedly pulling the strings.

What’s been lost in this coverage is what the Peltz-Beckhams actually said. According to sources speaking to PEOPLE, Brooklyn and Nicola found Meghan and Harry “kind, caring and generous.” Those words might seem harmless, but in a media ecosystem determined to paint the Sussexes as cold and divisive, even kindness becomes a threat.

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The Media Manufactured a Scandal for Clicks and Outrage

The Beckxit headlines didn’t emerge from a palace press release or even a verified source. They started with The Sun, were inflated by the Daily Mail, and were echoed uncritically by GB News. Lorraine Kelly’s show repeated the story, treating it like verified news when it was little more than speculation.

This coverage mirrors the same sexist formula used to launch the “Megxit” smear in 2020. Media scholars and researchers have noted that “Megxit” wasn’t just a portmanteau; the press weaponized it to blame Meghan for decisions she made with her husband. Now, the media applies that same logic to the Beckham family. The British press has revived the strategy: reframe a private dinner as a manipulative summit and push the blame onto Meghan once again.

There’s also the matter of who leaked the story. It landed in The Sun first, with no traceable source and no official comment from Harry and Meghan. If anything, their silence speaks volumes. It suggests they had no interest in spinning the event into PR. Yet someone clearly did. And their goal was obvious: stir controversy, generate clicks, and keep Meghan’s name trending in the worst possible context.