Prince William ‘Bristled’ Over Beard Dispute with Prince Harry

Prince William surprised the nation over the weekend by appearing on screen with a striking new addition— a full beard.

While royal watchers were taken aback by the Prince of Wales’ new look, perhaps no one was more shocked than Prince Harry himself.

The Duke of Sussex famously kept his beard for his 2018 wedding to Meghan Markle, a decision that reportedly irked his brother.

In his memoir Spare, Prince Harry revealed that the late Queen had permitted him to keep his beard, which seemed to cause irritation to Prince William.

“I explained it to my brother and he… bristled?” Prince Harry recounted. “Not the done thing,” William argued, referencing military rules. Harry responded with a quick history lesson, mentioning royals like King Edward VII and King George V who sported facial hair.

It became a point of contention when Harry informed William that he had already received the Queen’s approval. “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!”

The beard issue caused a rift between the brothers, with Harry writing that William’s frustration stemmed primarily from the fact that he hadn’t been allowed to keep his own beard.

“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 described.

“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.”

For Prince Harry, his beard was more than just facial hair. It helped him control his anxiety. “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, to quell my nerves.”

Before Prince William expressed his displeasure, Harry’s beard had already been a contentious issue. The Duke of Sussex was worried about how his grandfather, the late Prince Philip, would react. “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.”

The press speculated whether the Queen would force him to shave, but Prince Philip lightened the mood. “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.”

From the pages of Spare, it’s clear that Prince William has long desired to grow a beard. This recent change in his appearance might finally fulfill that long-held wish. We hope he is able to keep his facial hair when he returns to his royal duties after the summer break.

Source: Getty, WPA Pool, Instagram