Two of the most famous Britons are back together!

David Beckham, 41, joined Queen Elizabeth II, 90, as a special guest at her second annual Young Leaders Awards event at Buckingham Palace in London Thursday. The soccer stud was on hand to celebrate 60 winners ages 18 to 29, who are "taking the lead in their communities and using their skills to transform lives."

Other royals in attendance included the queen's grandchildren Prince Harry, 31, and Princess Eugenie, 26, as well as her cousin Birgitte, Duchess of Gloucester, 70. At the ceremony, David stood next to former U.K. Prime Minister Sir John Major, 73.

"It's the second year I've been involved in the program and I'm continually impressed by these inspiring young people who are running amazing projects around the world," David said on Instagram.

He had also attended the queen's inaugural event last year and the two also met up in past years.

"The queen is someone that I feel that I've grown up with," David said on NBC's Today show in 2012. "She's like my grandmother."

David and the monarch first met in 2002. That year, as captain of England's national soccer team, he helped hand the Jubilee baton to the queen at the opening of the Commonwealth Games. The two also chatted at a reception for the Football Association at Buckingham Palace.

A year later, David received an OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) honor from the queen. He attended the ceremony with wife Victoria Beckham and his maternal grandparents, Joseph West and Peggy West.

"Collecting my OBE was one of the proudest moments," David said on the ITV documentary Our Queen at Ninety, which was recorded last year and aired this past Easter. "That day was special for me because I brought my grandparents with me. It made me proud that I could bring them to somewhere that they worshipped for their whole lives."

"Meeting the Queen, it doesn't get any better than that," he added. "You can feel the emotion, I can personally feel the emotion, because I just love everything about our Queen and what she represents."

Source:
courtesy of E!ONLINE

by Corinne Heller

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