Just two days ago, the Beckham family were seen punting down the river Cam. David Beckham and their sons Brooklyn, Cruz and Romeo were in one punt with Victoria's parents, while she was in another punt with their daughter Harper.

Other highlights of the family's trip to Cambridge included a visit to the Varsity Rooftop Bar, and meeting Stephen Hawking. Brooklyn Beckham posted a picture of himself with the professor on Instagram, calling it "an honour".

A spokesperson for Lets Go Punting said this was just an ordinary booking, "but we don't normally get people like this – they are quite the celebrities and we don't have celebrities of their calibre coming on the punts often."

News of the Beckhams' visit to Cambridge spread quickly. Conor, 19, a student from Bedfordshire who was on a day trip with his family, said: "I never expected to see anything like this.

"We were just on a tour and punting down the river. We had heard people talking about it all day and the people offering the punting trips were saying 'You might get a chance to see the Beckhams'.

"You could see they were trying to keep on the down low but I think we would have recognised them even if we didn't know they were here."

One group of punters even crashed their boat into the Beckhams. Georgia Tompkins, 21, from Hertfordshire, described the unexpected collision.

"I couldn't believe it. He was smiling at us and he was very courteous. We were punting for my friend's 21st and I was joking that I'd hired him for her."