Prince William 'bristled' over beard row with brother Prince Harry
Prince William surprised the nation over the weekend, appearing on screen with a chin full of facial hair.
While royal watchers were surprised by the Prince of Wales' new beard, we suspect nobody was more shocked than Prince Harry.
The Duke of Sussex famously kept his shaggy beard for his 2018 wedding to Meghan Markle, a decision which Prince Harry said irked his brother.
Beard feuds
In his memoir, Spare, Prince Harry wrote that the late Queen permitted him to keep his beard, causing even more irritation to Prince William.
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"I explained it to my brother and he… bristled?" Prince Harry said of when he told his brother he would be bearded on his big day.
"'Not the done thing,', he said. 'Military, rules, so forth.' I gave him a quick history lesson. I mentioned the many royals who'd been bearded. King Edward VII. King George V. Prince Albert. More recently, Prince Michael of Kent. Helpfully I referred him to Google Images. 'Not the same,' he said. When I informed him that his opinion didn't really matter, since I'd already gone to Granny and got the green light, he became livid.
"He raised his voice. 'You went to ask her!' Yes. 'And what did Granny say?' She said 'keep the beard'. 'You put her in an uncomfortable position, Harold! She had no choice but to say yes.' No choice? She's the Queen! If she didn't want me to have a beard I think she can speak for herself."
The beard debacle caused a rift between Prince William and Prince Harry, with Harry writing that William's upset mainly down to the fact that he hadn't been allowed to keep his own beard.
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"After he'd come back from an assignment with Special Forces, Willy was sporting a full beard, and someone told him to be a good boy, run along and shave it. He hated the idea of me enjoying a perk he'd been denied," Harry wrote.
"He was being ridiculous, and I told him so. But he kept getting angrier and angrier. Finally I told him flatly and defiantly that his bearded brother was getting married soon, and he could either get on board or not. The choice was up to him."
Prince Harry's beard
More than a physical thing, Prince Harry wrote that his beard meant a lot to him and helped him control his anxiety.
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"I desperately wanted to hang on to something that had become an effective check on my anxiety," he shared. "Illogical, but true. I'd grown the beard during my voyage to the South Pole, and I'd kept it after returning home, and it helped, along with therapy, and meditation, and a few other things, to quell my nerves."
Beard bother
Even before Prince William took umbrage against Prince Harry's beard, it had been a source of distress for the Duke of Sussex, with the royal worrying how his grandfather, the late Prince Philip, would react to his facial hair.
"I recalled one particular shooting weekend years ago. A mate, just trying to make conversation, asked Grandpa what he thought of my new beard, which had been causing concern in the family and controversy in the press."
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Prince Harry wrote that the media was suggesting his grandmother force him to shave, but Prince Philip was unbothered.
"Grandpa looked at my mate, looked at my chin, broke into a devilish grin. "THAT'S no beard!" Everyone laughed. To beard or not to beard, that was the question, but leave it to Grandpa to demand more beard."
Prince William's beard
From the pages of Spare, it's clear that Prince William has long wanted a beard, so we're delighted for the Prince of Wales and his new look and hope he's able to keep his facial hair when he returns to work after his summer break.
