Victoria Beckham faces backlash after leaking news of OBE honour

While Victoria Beckham is in celebratory mood after revealing that she is to receive an OBE, she is has found herself at the centre of controversy for going public with the news.

The 42-year-old popstar-turned-fashion designer, who is to be recognised for her services to fashion and charity work, has been accused of "a betrayal of etiquette" after prematurely leaking the news on Wednesday (28 December).

Tory MP Peter Bone slammed the former Spice Girl telling Mail Online: "It is certainly a betrayal of etiquette, it is just not done. It is just wrong and I don't understand why anyone would leak something like that.

"To get an honour is extremely important and it might well be for a very good reason but you just don't leak it. Full stop," he added.

Tory MP Andrew Bridgen waded into the row saying the breach of protocol "further discredits our honours system".

"Nominees are sworn to secrecy, so she has broken the first rule of being offered the honour. It would appear to be a breach of protocol and perhaps raises questions over her suitability that she has leaked her own nomination," he said according to Sky News.

The mother-of four, who reinvented herself as fashion designer, is being honoured for her success in the fashion industry and for her charity work with the United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, and is is said to be "delighted and humbled for the recognition".

"She is especially thrilled that her philanthropic work as a UNAIDS goodwill ambassador, creating a voice and awareness for women with HIV that suffer prejudice and discrimination has been recognised in this way," a source told the Mail Online.

The accolade comes 13 years after she accompanied her husband David to Buckingham palace as he received the same honour. The 41-year-old sporting hero recently described receiving his OBE as one of his "proudest moments".

Speaking in the documentary Our Queen At Ninety earlier this year, he said: "Collecting my OBE was one of the proudest moments. 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."