David Beckham finally embraces his grey hair to receive knighthood

David Beckham finally embraced his greys as he sported a short hair cut flecked with salt and pepper strands to receive his long-awaited knighthood on Tuesday. 

The former footballer, 50, who is usually pictured with much dark hair, ditched the dye as he was knighted by King Charles himself at Windsor Castle and embraced a new, silver fox look for the milestone event. 

Just a few weeks ago at the premiere of his wife Victoria's Netflix documentary series, he had a slightly longer, much darker do. 

David has sported a diverse range of looks over the years, especially back in his heyday on the pitch, but long gone are his famous mohawk and bleached blonde hairs styles. 

Last year, the fashion icon revealed the only hairstyle he regrets is his cornrows which he wore ahead of a meeting with Nelson Mandela in 2003.

The footballer claimed that he had made the bold style choice on a whim whilst on holiday in the South of France with his wife Victoria Beckham and their friends.

He explained: 'We were there with family and one of Victoria's friends who is a hairdresser.

'I asked if she could do something with my hair and she said, ''Do you want cornrows?'' and I said, ''Yeah. I don't know what they are. But yeah''. It was painful having them done but I liked them.

'People ask if I have any regrets about my hairstyles and while I don't regret any of them, I do sort of regret the cornrows.

'I had them put in on the Saturday and on the Monday I flew to South Africa with the England team for a match.

'I got to meet the great Nelson Mandela. And the picture that I've got of Nelson Mandela is me holding his hand with cornrows in my hair. That's my only regret.'

In the Beckham Netflix documentary, David insisted he didn't get his 2000 buzzcut for attention and initially refused to take his cap off when Sir Alex Ferguson asked him to.

He said: 'I never did it to create attention. I'm not that person.' 

While Sir Alex admitted: 'When David shaved his head, I honestly thought a member of my family had died. Because my phone went off. The panic in people's voices.'

On Tuesday,David was knighted alongside Sir Mel Stride, the former Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for his political and public service.

Speaking afterwards Sir David admitted he had been emotional as he received his greatest honour - and revealed that Charles had complimented him on the suit Victoria had designed and made for him as a gift.

'I've been very obviously lucky in my career to have won what I've won and done what I've done but to receive an honour like this, of a knight, is beyond anything that I ever thought that I would receive', he said.

'To be honest, a young boy from the east end of London, born in Leytonstone, and here at Windsor Castle, being honoured by His Majesty the King - the most important and the most respected institution in the world - it's quite a moment. This is without doubt my proudest moment'. 

His knighthood marks a pivotal and personally important moment for one of England's greatest ever footballers. It is also a dream that Sir David Beckham probably never thought would come true after waiting for so long.

Asked whether he managed to speak to Charles during the ceremony, Sir David said: 'He was quite impressed with my suit. He's kind of the most elegantly dressed man that I know, so he inspired quite a few of my looks over the years and he definitely inspired this look.

'It was something that my wife made me. I looked at old pictures of him when he was quite young in morning suits and I was like, OK, that's what I want to wear, so I gave it to my wife and she did it.'