From the Fringe | 05.08.2008
"Pinko Spice" Was Her Second Choice
Just as tabloid fashion icons aren’t usually linked to self-abnegating political ideologues, the words “posh” and “commie” don’t often fall in the same sentence. But they do now, thanks to a diligent German historian.
Anyone who reads a trashy tabloid now and then knows that Victoria Beckham can be described in various colourful ways: “anorexic, cosmetically enhanced mother of three”, say, or “jet-setting pop has-been who is married to a world-famous soccer star."
“Descendent of a 19th century political radical who finished his life in poverty” is most definitely not one of many things that pop to mind, however. And yet, astonishingly, it appears to be true.
A political pedigree
Hans Mueller, a historian from the southwestern German city of Heilbronn, discovered that Posh Spice, as Beckham was called when she first earned her fame as a member of the world's biggest girl band, The Spice Girls, is actually descended from a 19th century German communist who was close to Karl Marx.
Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: The father of Communism made a fashion statement of his own
Mueller says that Beckham -- born Victoria Adams and now wife of soccer player David Beckham -- is the great-great-great-granddaughter of revolutionary and artist Carl Heinrich Pfaender.
Mueller told ddp news agency he had researched the life of Heilbronn native Pfaender, who lived from 1819 to 1876 and was a close associate of Marx and Friedrich Engels. Pfaender took part in the failed revolution of 1848 and was forced to flee to London where he worked as a miniaturist and painter to make ends meet, he added.
Surprising link
"He certainly didn't get rich doing it," Mueller said. "His wife was buried in a pauper's grave."
The historian told ddp he was astonished to discover the link between a pioneer of the workers' movement and the pop star. He has contacted Beckham's mother Jacqueline.
He said she had confirmed his findings and promised to tell Victoria. Maybe Posh, who was born into a wealthy family before churning out her own millions as a musician, fashion designer and advertising spokeswoman, will be moved to go back dig up her distant relative and have her laid to rest somewhere less paupery.
