Just three months before their July wedding, in April 1999, Victoria and David invited OK! for an exclusive peek inside the gorgeous first family home they had bought together in Alderley Edge, Cheshire.
Footballer David had been living in Manchester for more than eight years at the time, but this was Victoria’s big move north, away from her close family and friends. The celebrity parents had welcomed baby Brooklyn on 4 March – just four weeks before our photoshoot – and were initially living apart following his birth.
Victoria and Brooklyn stayed south to be close to Brooklyn’s doting new grandparents, with Manchester-based David driving south after games to be reunited with his family. “People said that there wasn’t a Gucci, so Victoria wouldn’t move up here!” joked David.
David and Victoria moved into a beautiful penthouse apartment in Cheshire three months before their lavish wedding
(Image: OK!)
David and Victoria’s first home together was an apartment in a Victorian property
(Image: Rightmove)
Their new penthouse home in the historic property was the perfect move, with Victoria explaining she hadn’t felt prepared for the upkeep – or the loneliness – that a large house might have presented her with.
“I wouldn’t feel comfortable up here being left in a big house when David goes away,” said the new mum. “We were thinking of buying something up here and we’d been to see lots of big houses and, at the time, I wasn’t ready to have a big house. This is our first place together and I wanted open plan, very big bedrooms, high ceilings…”
David, who spotted its “for sale” sign when driving around the area scouting for properties, saw the potential in apartment living, and the grand scale of the Alderley Edge pad definitely appealed.
The couple struck a pose in their lounge
(Image: OK!)
“We do want to get a big house eventually, but this is perfect for us in Manchester. I came up and had a look, and it was in a right state – it was a building site,” he said, showing OK! around the vast two-bedroom penthouse. “One room was much smaller and the bathroom wasn’t so big – we just knocked all the walls through. No one was living here. It’s a 100-year-old house knocked into six apartments. It should have been three bedrooms but we made one into a kitchen, one’s our bedroom and one is Brooklyn’s room.”
And there was one special touch in Brooklyn’s nursery that was very close to David’s heart: a framed signed shirt from Brazilian footballing icon Ronaldinho. Other than that contribution, he admitted he didn’t have much to do with the interior design choices.
Victoria chose a lot of animal prints to decorate the rooms
(Image: OK!)
Victoria explained her interior choices during the shoot
(Image: OK!)
“It was mostly down to Victoria. She designed everything and I looked after the music system and the televisions,” he laughed. Upon arrival in a gilt and mirrored elevator, house guests were greeted by a giant, showstopping portrait of the pair by legendary German fashion photographer, Juergen Teller.
Once inside, the apartment was strewn with flickering church candles, with comfy white sofas, animal print rugs, a 4ft ornamental elephant and a huge carved wooden four-poster bed in the master bedroom. Versace towels hung in the bathroom and the walls were decked with stylish black-and-white photographs of the Spice Girls on tour, David lining up for the opening game of the World Cup and an extraordinary portrait of Eric Cantona, dressed as a Roman emperor and surrounded by David and his Manchester United teammates.
As Victoria explained her interior choices during the shoot, David busied himself by taking out the rubbish and nipping off to the nearest M&S for supplies, before retiring to the kitchen to cook tuna pasta for the entire shoot team in the top-of-the-range Miele oven.
Victoria said the leopard print in the bedroom was a “tribute” to Mel B
(Image: OK!)
“We’ve drawn inspiration from going abroad, nice restaurants and lovely houses,” Victoria said. “You just find what you like. I picked up lots of pieces from all over America and some bits from Europe, too, and that’s nice because whenever I’m walking around the house I’ll see something that reminds me of a certain place. Or a person. Did you notice my little bit of a tribute to Mel B in the bedroom with all the leopard print?”
“Our next house will be our family home, but this is perfect for us at the moment,” Victoria continued. “People say, ‘You’ve got all this money, what do you buy?’ But the best thing about it is that money buys you the freedom to be together. Hand on heart, that’s the nicest thing.”
In this special collector’s edition of OK!, we celebrate David and Victoria Beckham’s unique love story as they toast their silver wedding anniversary We share exclusive and rarely-seen pictures and interviews from their very first at home shoot together, Victoria’s bridal dress fitting, and, of course, the incredible images from their wedding day We also bring you an insight into their adorable family life behind closed doors and explore how they have become this century’s most powerful couple in showbiz
Click here to purchase your copy of this collector’s edition for £9.99
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