Two family snapshots. One taken on a balcony to celebrate the 80th anniversary of VE Day. The other in a gorgeous Cotswolds garden to celebrate the 50th anniversary of David Beckham’s birth.

Both families are glowing, immaculate, but the smiles, to me, seem painted on, while the line-ups also look a little thin (and I’m not referring to the silhouettes of both Catherine and Victoria).

The reason for that hint of sorrow is that there’s a great big prodigal son-shaped hole in both scenarios.

Not even the most appealing family shindig – a lump-in-the-throat-inducing flypast or an ‘intimate’ dinner at a rural mansion – could tempt either Prince Harry or Brooklyn Beckham to join in.

Indeed, the estrangement of both from their birth families came to a simultaneous climax over the weekend. First, with Harry’s BBC confession on Friday that his father no longer speaks to him, and nor do many of his family, following years of bitter claims about Harry and Meghan’s ‘mistreatment’ by Buckingham Palace.

Meanwhile, as my colleague Katie Hind reported, Brooklyn was absent from his father’s lavish 50th birthday celebrations – despite having spent last week a few miles away in London. The Beckhams are said to be desperate to ‘get their son back’, as sources say, ‘they are done with Nicola now’.

Harry and Brooklyn’s trajectories are eerily similar and proof that privilege is a double-edged sword. Both have been famous since birth. Both have faced ridicule online and in print. Neither will surpass the achievements of their fathers – one the King of England and the other of English football.

Two family snapshots. One taken on a balcony to celebrate the 80th anniversary of VE Day...

...the other in a gorgeous Cotswolds garden to celebrate the 50th anniversary of David Beckham’s birth

At 40, Harry seems rudderless. Fourteen years his junior, Brooklyn, too, has failed to find his feet, dabbling in modelling, photography and now cookery.

It is fair to say they were floundering, until two glamorous and ambitious women swooped in from across the Atlantic to whisk them down the aisle.

For Harry, there came Meghan, the former Suits actress and lifestyle blogger, whom he married in 2018. For Brooklyn, there came Nicola Peltz, the billionaire’s daughter whom he married in 2022. And in years since, it seems that neither Meghan nor Nicola has taken any prisoners.

Both are slightly older than their husbands: Meghan is 43, Nicola, 30. Both have been actresses but are now what are described as ‘influencers’: Meghan with her TV shows and merchandise, Nicola with her ‘job’ as the face of a fashion brand. Both appear to crave attention and have a need to be in control.

Harry and Brooklyn have been described as ‘kind’ which, to certain high-powered women, can mean ‘malleable’. Both men are, I believe, victims of something akin to Stockholm Syndrome – falling in love with their wifely ‘captors’ while growing distant from their families.

For, indeed, when it comes to the reasons for the men’s estrangements, rightly or wrongly, fingers have been firmly pointed at their wives.

And is it any wonder? While we can never know what happens behind expensively gated mansions, both Meghan and Nicola’s modus operandi appear remarkably similar.

First, argue with your husband’s female relatives. Victoria and Nicola were said to be in dispute in the making of Nicola’s wedding gown (in the end designed by Valentino). Meghan had run-ins with Kate over something as trivial as whether or not the bridesmaids would wear tights.

Next, force your husband to take sides. Say you need to be near your family and your work. He agrees: yes, England can be cold and small-minded.

Then embark on a career as an ‘influencer’, with a lifestyle that is necessarily one of perfection, which means the husband is massaged into ever greater contortions as he tries to conform.

High-maintenance women don’t choose strong men, as they would forever be fighting.

But you must wonder, why separate their husbands from what made them catnip – their family connections – in the first place? Well, this type of woman doesn’t want anyone else whispering in their spouse’s ear. Best not to be reminded of what you sacrificed.

Brothers and in-laws tend to roll eyes at high-achieving wives. Meghan and Nicola both know their husbands’ families will have their own unfathomable in-jokes and habits: they prefer to be among strangers on red carpets where cultural differences, a lack of shared history, are less glaring.

But glorious isolation will, I predict, one day come back to haunt them. These two women are the very antithesis of Camilla, a woman who recognised that shoring up the man you love is not weakness.

I’d have more respect for Meghan and Nicola were they to become the peacemakers, not the trouble makers. And that’s not the only similarity between this glamorous pair...

All the world's a stage 

Prior to their marriages, both women tried to crack Hollywood.

Meghan starred in legal drama Suits from 2011 until 2018.

Meghan in the trailer for Anti-Social in 2015, a crime film in which she plays a robber's fashion-model girlfriend Kirsten

Nicola Peltz Beckham wrote, directed and starred in Lola last year, a drama film about a struggling exotic dancer

Meanwhile Nicola has been in a series of forgettable blockbusters. Namely, Transformers and the widely-panned Last Airbender.

How talented were they? To quote Dorothy Parker, they ran ‘the gamut of emotions from A to B’.

California dreamin' 

There’s no place like home – which just so happens to be California for these two starlets.

Los Angeles native Meghan now, of course, lives up the road in Montecito.

Meghan as a child in California wearing a blue two-piece swimsuit

Nicola as a young girl on a Californian beach in a two-piece swimsuit

In 2020, she and Harry settled in a $14.5million mansion with more bathrooms – 16 to be precise – than sense.

While Nicola hails from Palm Springs, she and Brooklyn now live in a 7,000 square-ft, $10.5million mansion in Beverly Hills.

Lifestyle gurus 

Both women have turned their talents to more wellness and lifestyle focused ventures.

This year, Meghan launched her As Ever brand from jams to edible flower sprinkles as well as her digital profile on the site ShopMy, recommending brands she ‘likes’ for a cut of the sales.

Meghan poses on her Instagram in a yoga outfit 

Nicola takes a selfie in her yoga gear, also for her Instagram

Nicola is a model and, as of this year, the face of the Swedish fashion brand NA-KD (no, me neither). Apparently, Nicola brings the brand’s vision to life with ‘raw, unscripted moments’.

Both also own yoga mats and profess to be bendy.

Always the bride 

Their lavish weddings in Windsor and Florida made headlines – as much as the drama surrounding them. 

Meghan and Harry enjoy their first dance at their lavish wedding reception in 2018

Meghan notoriously fell out with her future sister-in-law, Kate, in a spat over bridesmaids’ dresses.

Meanwhile Nicola decided to pass on Victoria Beckham’s offer to make her wedding gown, opting for Valentino instead.

Social activism 

To get more ‘likes’, you need to at least appear philanthropic. Meghan has spoken out on racism, sexism and the importance of good mental health.

She has also been fundraising for victims of the California wildfires in January – nobly postponing the release of her Netflix show With Love, Meghan.

Meghan comforting victims and emergency services at an evacuation centre during the fires in LA earlier this year

Critics blasted Lola as 'a glorified commercial' for Nicola, and accused it of being 'poverty porn' - exploiting poverty for entertainment

 Nicola has also highlighting the struggles of female sex workers with her directorial debut last year, Lola, about a struggling stripper. The film was widely panned as ‘poverty porn’.

Grandmas' girls

This weekend, Nicola posted a celebration of ‘core family memories’ in homage to her late grandmothers, Gina (who died in 2020) and Bunny (who died last year). 

Meghan lovingly giving her late grandmother Doris a kiss on the cheek in a photo shared in her Netflix documentary

Nicola kisses her late grandmother Gina in a photo she posted on Instagram 

Meghan has also spoken of being close to her late paternal grandmother, Doris who died in 2011.

She has previously posted an old photo of her kissing her grandmother’s cheek, saying she ‘cared for her in her final years’.

Arm candy 

Both Harry and Brooklyn are now ‘influencer husbands’, reduced to holding the selfie stick. Both men always play second fiddle, hovering like waiters.

Meghan and Harry at the 2021 Salute to Freedom Gala in New York, with Meghan in a vivid red gown

Nicola and Brooklyn attend the 2022 Met Gala in New York. Nicola wears a stunning bright pink dress

Remember the Time magazine cover of Meghan and Harry, when the prince was reduced to the role of parrot? For Nicola’s Hong Kong Vogue cover, Brooklyn was reduced to the role of cushion.

Dogs are a girl's best friend 

Nicola now describes herself as a ‘dog activist’, prompted by the death of her beloved chihuahua Nala after a visit to a dog groomer last July. 

Meghan stares lovingly at her adopted pup Guy, in a photo on Instagram in 2016

Nicola also looks adoringly at her dog Nala, who died unexpectedly in 2024

Meghan also mourned the death of her rescue beagle Guy in January – who she adopted in Canada in 2015 and who made an appearance on her Netflix show to lick a spoon.

In fact, he had a bigger role than Harry who had a walk-on part in the last episode.