Rise, Sir David: Football Legend Honoured by the Monarch at Royal Windsor Investiture

David Beckham received a knighthood at Windsor Castle on Tuesday. The ex-national team leader, fifty, was among those receiving awards for his services to athletics and philanthropy. In recent months, he expressed he was “immensely proud” of being acknowledged in the monarch's annual honors list.

Soccer Achievements

The player made his Premier League debut for the Red Devils in 1995 and was a key member that earned a dramatic European Cup win in the late nineties when they defeated Bayern Munich with two late goals.

Overall, he netted 85 goals and collected honours including multiple English championships and two FA Cups as a footballer, before retiring from the sport in 2013. Alongside his football career, he has supported a number of charity causes, including acting as a goodwill ambassador for global aid group the United Nations Children's Fund since the mid-2000s.

David Beckham, accompanied by his spouse, after receiving his knighthood at an investiture ceremony at Windsor Castle.

Charitable and Other Roles

Last year, the sports star, who has described himself as a “huge royalist”, was named an official representative for the King’s Foundation, an educational charity founded by the King in the early nineties. In 1998 he was named most stylish man of the year by a leading publication and he has posed for companies such as H&M, the Italian designer, and the luxury label.

Beckham married his wife Victoria in 1999 and the pair have four children together – their eldest, Romeo, the third child, and their daughter.