Royals Who Looked Completely Different With Facial Hair

Historically, monarchs were expected to sport a hefty amount of facial hair. Henry VIII, for instance, was as notorious for his luxurious facial hair as he was for his commitment issues. There's even a longstanding urban legend that the Tudor king enforced a beard tax during his reign, though historians argue that there's no evidence of such legislation ever existing in Britain (Russia was a different matter however, with Peter the Great taxing the hirsute in pursuit of modernization).

But in recent years, European monarchs have eschewed the hairy look in favor of slicker, clean-shaven appearances. This was in part due to beards being associated with radicals, an image that evidently did not align with the principles of upholding hereditary privilege. Of course, the clean-shaven trend largely applies to European aristocracy. For example, within the Saudi royal family, it's almost unheard of for princes and kings to be clean-shaven, as beards are a symbol of both lofty social status and religious devotion.

Every so often, however, European royals have been known to defy convention and embrace their inner Henry David Thoreau, rocking some serious facial hair as well as the status quo. In turn, these rustic looks left the old-money aristocrats looking near unrecognizable. From majestic muttonchops to princely peach fuzz, these royals looked completely different with facial hair.

Always impeccably turned out, it's hard to imagine King Charles III with a five o'clock shadow. But in the king's youth, he was considered something of a royal rebel. Beards were widespread in the 1970s and Charles jumped onto the trend, donning facial hair on several occasions throughout the decade. He joined the Royal Navy in 1971, leaving in '76, and it's possible that he grew out his fuzz to enjoy a semblance of anonymity while serving in the forces.

With facial hair, Charles looked vastly different. The beard gave him a rugged, Lady Chatterley's Lover-esque rough and ready aesthetic, which is in stark contrast to the restrained and conservative façade that has come to typify him.

His fuzz was fleeting, and he soon went back to a slick, smooth appearance. This may be due to the late Queen Elizabeth II's intense aversion to facial hair. "She doesn't mind royal men growing beards when they are away in the armed forces or out in the wilds ... but she expects them to be clean-shaven when they get home," a royal insider told Hello! Since his hairy heyday, Charles has avoided facial hair entirely.

Ordinarily, Prince William is the epitome of old money prestige: expertly fitted designer suits, cashmere sweaters, and a golden wisp atop his receding hairline. But with facial hair, his look was more akin to a geography teacher than second in line to the throne. William debuted his facial hair in 2008 while in the Royal Navy. Again, this was likely a means of concealing his identity — and it almost certainly worked. In fact, he was so unrecognizable with the blond hipster beard that he could very well have blended into a crowd of sailors unnoticed.

After serving in Barbados, William retained his beard while on a pheasant shoot. Since Queen Elizabeth II never cared for facial hair, he was apparently told to shave it off — and was livid. Subsequently, he tried to sabotage his younger brother's beard, as Prince Harry recounted in his memoir, "Spare" (via The Telegraph). "For the love of God, Willy, why does this matter so much to you?" Harry recalled asking his brother, who replied, "'Because I wasn't allowed to keep my beard.' Ah, there it was. 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."

Unlike his big brother, Prince Harry has fully embraced the bearded aesthetic. When clean-shaven, he had a boyish, baby-faced look to him, appearing younger than his years. After growing out his stubble in 2013, he began to look more mature, less regal, and most significantly, far more approachable. Indeed, his demeanor now exudes that of an average dude. Perhaps this change was significant for Harry, having always felt like an outsider — a spare if you will — in the House of Windsor. Tellingly, Harry has said that his beard helps with his anxiety.

Initially, Queen Elizabeth II was unhappy with Harry retaining his beard after serving in the armed forces. Not intent on upsetting his grandmother, he was reportedly considering a trip to the barber but eventually opted to keep his ginger mane.

Now, facial fuzz is very much a part of the prince's brand, and he is rarely if ever seen without it. When his wedding day approached, he was allegedly ordered by Prince William to shave off his beloved beard in what has been dubbed "beardgate." "I said 'Well I don't believe that Meghan's gonna recognise me if she comes up the aisle and sees me beardless,'" Harry told ITV (via The Telegraph). "I would feel very, very different without my beard, and that's hard for people to understand who've never grown a beard ... but hopefully those beard people out there will go 'Yeah, no, I fully get that, I can understand.'"

Of all the royals in this rundown, the late Prince Philip is the one we'd least expect to sport scruff. With his arguably colonial mindset, Philip was very much a remnant of a Britain that no longer exists. But back in 1957, the duke, then aged 36, showcased a full beard while wearing his naval uniform (the navy vet had been appointed Admiral of the Fleet and Captain-General Royal Marines four years earlier). With a beard, Philip looked eerily similar to Willem Dafoe's grizzled sailor in Robert Eggers' "The Lighthouse."

In 1965, he once again grew out his stubble during a five-month-long Commonwealth tour. Upon his return, Queen Elizabeth II, who was famed for her cheeky sense of humor, took the opportunity to troll her hirsute husband. "It was a comedy moment when the Queen and Duke were finally reunited," Robert Hardman revealed in his book "Queen of the World" (via Express). "Knowing that he had grown a beard on his travels, the Queen had arranged for everyone in the royal entourage — herself included — to put on fake whiskers just before the Duke walked in."

Before being a blight on the House of Windsor due to his association with Jeffrey Epstein, Prince Andrew was regarded as a war hero. He served in the Falklands in 1982 and it was during this period that he began to grow out his facial hair. Andrew's thick beard made him look vastly different, with the prince resembling a renegade revolutionary. Sans beard, Andrew is rather inconspicuous-looking in comparison to his fellow royals, resembling an ordinary guy one might spot at a 7-11 (or, indeed, a Pizza Express in Woking).

After years of being clean-shaven following his return from the Falklands conflict, he once again embraced the bristle in 2011. At the time, the prince was on a wilderness adventure. "It's magnificent wilderness country and so remote you literally won't see a single person," an insider said of the excursion, per the Daily Mail. "For someone like HRH it is probably bliss." Andrew took the au naturale lifestyle a little too literally, sporting a bushy gray Santa beard throughout his trek. This time, not only was the aging prince unrecognizable from his usual smooth self but also from his aforementioned revolutionary style bearded era.

The Spanish royals lead enviably lavish lifestyles, but one item that's not on King Felipe VI's Whole Foods receipt is shaving cream. Unlike the majority of royals in this rundown, rocking a beard isn't mere experimentation for the Spanish king; it's a way of life. In fact, Felipe is one of the only monarchs in Europe to sport a permanent beard.

But there once was a time when the king didn't have a beard. When he was crowned in 2014 following the abdication of his scandal-prone father, Felipe looked completely different. An absence of facial hair made him appear rather ordinary, resembling a politician rather than a royal. 

The beard has given the king's face character, as well as a more debonair and sophisticated look. As The Telegraph pointed out, the king's fuzz is much more flattering for his face, with the hair concealing his weakening jawline. King Charles III and Prince William, the outlet argues, could learn a thing or two from the bearded monarch: "King Charles III might benefit from some of his own Spanish whiskers to lend his septuagenarian face a little extra scaffolding." Ouch! While Charles is unlikely to return to his stubbly jawline any time soon, we salute Felipe for being a renegade royal.

Renowned for his commitment to stubble, Prince Carl Philip is the rather dapper son of King Carl XVI Gustaf. In his 20s, the prince was something of a pretty boy with his impossibly flawless babyface and floppy Mr Darcy-style hair. He certainly would not have looked out of place in a period drama or as the love interest in a twee 2000s romcom. But with a beard, the racing aficionado has graduated to sex symbol status, with some claiming that he's a dead ringer for hunky "50 Shades of Grey" star Jamie Dornan. For Carl, a beard just makes sense, giving him a more mature and rugged look.

The prince even donned a full beard when he tied the knot with Princess Sofia in 2015, which, aside from the aforementioned Prince Harry, is uncommon when it comes to royal weddings. Then again, the Swedish prince is anything but conventional: this is, after all, the man who wed Sofia (herself a commoner and former reality TV star) against a soundtrack of Coldplay and Rihanna.

Though Greece abolished its monarchy in 1973, the Greek royals still hold onto their titles. Crown Prince Pavlos is the son of the late Constantine II, the last king of Greece. Without facial hair, the prince looks rather dashing. On his 1995 wedding day, for instance, he seemed every bit the prince charming as he waltzed out of the church with his bride, Marie-Chantal, Crown Princess of Greece. That fresh face and floppy hair was giving "Notting Hill" era Hugh Grant (it was the '90s, after all).

He continued with the clean-shaven countenance into middle age, until one day something rather peculiar happened. Toward the end of 2020, Pavlos emerged with a handlebar mustache and goatee. Though he had previously sported some facial hair, most notably a wispy beard in the 2010s, he was still unmistakably Pavlos. But this time he looked like a totally different person to the dashing Hugh Grant doppelganger.

It seemed the prince took a liking to the mustache, and it remained throughout the early 2020s. This change in his appearance was compounded by the addition of an eyepatch in December 2023, following retinal surgery. Sharing a snap of her husband's whiskers and eyepatch combo on Instagram, it seems that Marie-Chantal digs the look. "Hopefully a temporary new look ... but he's kind of cute," she wrote.

King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands is proof that facial hair really can change a person's entire appearance. When he ascended the throne in 2013, his face was smooth, but there were calls from the Dutch public for the monarch to grow a beard or a hipster mustache (some even went as far as to photoshop a Santa Claus on the king's face). But these calls went unheeded and as the years went on, it seemed that the king was sticking to the smooth look.

That all changed, however, when he debuted his luxurious ginger beard in 2019. Without facial hair, the king, who was born in 1967, was rather fresh-faced. The addition of bristle aged him by a decade, but also bestowed a more approachable and less aristocratic look.

It was a radical move, considering that it's uncommon for Dutch royals to undergo major makeovers. "The king has always hinted that he wants to come across more loosely," etiquette expert Gonnie Klein Rouweler told Newsbeezer. "This new beard reflects that, it makes him human. If you change frequently, it becomes more difficult to recognize, it's good to know what you want with it, it also requires some vigilance and work to keep it clean." Now, this is the façade that Dutch royalists have come to know and love, with the king deciding to maintain his beard as of 2024.

Frederik X was crowned King of Denmark following the abdication of his mom, Queen Margrethe, in January 2024. As a young man, Frederik had a boyish, smooth-skinned countenance. But as he got older, he began growing out his stubble and went from pretty boy to silver fox. The king now dons a salt-and-pepper beard, looking like a completely different person to that fresh-faced Danish youth. Nevertheless, he's handsome both beardless and with a set of whiskers.

In 2020, Frederik debuted his post-lockdown haircut after growing a wild mane during quarantine. However, his bristles were still in place, albeit tidied up. As some commentators have pointed out, the beard is central to the king's humble and laid-back persona. Unlike many royals across the globe, he doesn't take himself too seriously (and even has multiple tattoos). "He is already a star among many Danes," royal biographer Gitte Redder told The Telegraph. "By nature he is open-minded, curious and down to earth ... Even before becoming king, he has been nicknamed the Frogman King, the Rock 'n' Roll King, the Sportsman King and the Green King."

The son of King Harald V and Queen Sonja, Prince Haakon of Norway is as famed for his impressive goatee as he is for his flamboyant personality. While attending his parents' 80th birthday gala in 2017, Haakon pranked guests by arriving with a shaved face midway through the celebrations. He looked markedly different without the goatee, which gave his face some character and charm. Namely, being hairless emphasized his resemblance to Lord Farquaad, whereas the hairy look provided definition and highlighted his classic features. The prince is proof of just how much facial hair can change a person's face.

The clean-shaven look was short-lived, however, with the prince once again growing out his fuzz and appearing at subsequent events with a full beard. Tellingly, Haakon once revealed that his dream job was to be a surfer, a profession renowned for its beards. "I would have been a pro surfer on the World Tour," he told NRK. "Maybe an ex-professional by the way, because now I'm almost 50."

The son of the late Grace Kelly, Prince Albert of Monaco usually opts for a hairless face. With his large spectacles and receding hairline, he looks like he works for the civil service rather than the crown. But with a mustache, he appears far more like an old-school aristocrat.

In 2017, Albert debuted his chevron mustache, which suited his regal bearing. It was the first time he had played around with facial hair, following in the footsteps of his paternal ancestors. Chatting to People, he discussed the patriotic significance of his whiskers; along with his countrymen, he was paying tribute to 200 years of the carabinier, a branch of Monaco's defense reserves. Historically, it was a requirement for soldiers to have mustaches. "As their honorary colonel I said, 'If you're sure you're all going to it, I'll do the same!'" he joked. "We're almost at 95% mustaches now among the carabinier corps or will be by [Monaco's] National Day [on November 19]. So you'll see a lot of 'staches on parade in front of the palace."

Though he looked distinguished with the 'tache, Albert's wife and kids weren't so keen. Subsequently, he was looking forward to the day he could finally shave it off. These days, the prince is back to being bristle-free.

Philippe of Belgium has been king since his father, Albert II, abdicated in 2013. Back in his princely days, Philippe exhibited some majestic facial hair. In 2009, he debuted his beard and metamorphosed into an entirely different person. In fact, one would be forgiven for thinking that an imposter had taken Philippe's place. The gray beard was undeniably aging on the royal, then aged 49, though it also gave him silver fox appeal. The Belgian public agreed. "Some believe that it gives him a more mature appearance, more assured, others say it makes him look a bit old," La Derniere-Heure reported at the time (via Expatica). The then-prince made his facial hair his entire personality, demanding that a set of commemorative stamps released in 2010 depict him with his beard.

Despite his apparent dedication to the fuzz, he eventually shaved it off. After showcasing his gray stubble for the last time in 2012, he was seen sans facial hair when he was crowned in 2013 and looked every inch the regal dignitary. As of 2024, his face remains hairless.