Back in 2008, William grew a beard.
Chris Jackson/Getty Images
The then-26-year-old made news around the world when he was photographed with a beard in 2008. He grew the beard during a 10-day trip to Barbados with the Navy’s Special Boat Service, according to a report published in The Telegraph at the time. The prince may have grown the beard to disguise his identity during the trip, the publication reported, although this was never confirmed by the palace.
According to an anonymous royal source who spoke to The Express in 2014, the late Queen Elizabeth didn’t mind if royal men wore beards while serving in the armed forces, but she expected them to be “clean-shaven” when they returned home.
Prince Harry appeared to confirm this rumor in his memoir, “Spare,” published on January 10, in which he writes that William was jealous that he was allowed to keep his beard for his royal wedding to Meghan Markle in 2018.
“Writing this, I remembered that William had a beard himself, and that granny and other people were the ones who told him to shave it off,” Harry said during an interview with Tom Bradby for ITV on January 8.
“The difference for me, was, as I explained to my grandmother, that this beard, that I’m still wearing, felt to me at the time like the new Harry, as almost like a shield to my anxiety,” he said.
