Prince Harry Looked Completely Different Without Facial Hair

While there have certainly been times when royal beards were all the rage, these days, we're more accustomed to seeing clean-shaven looks. During the brief times when King Charles and William, Prince of Wales, have sported beards, they've looked completely different with facial hair. For Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex the opposite is true: Harry without facial hair feels unfamiliar. The duke debuted his bearded style briefly in December 2013, after he returned from Antarctica. While some of the royals reportedly liked his new look — including his cousin Zara Tindall, who nicknamed him "Prince Hairy" — he went back to a smoother look soon after, apparently after a request from his grandmother, the late Queen Elizabeth II.  By the summer of 2015, however, Harry regrew a beard and it went on to become part of his signature look. 

Before his 2018 royal wedding to Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, Harry's facial hair became a topic of intense debate. While some experts noted no royal rules prohibited Harry's beard, others asserted that it was against regulations when worn with a military uniform (although this was a rule Harry had already broken in the past). Harry's facial hair was also contested privately within the family. As Harry later recounted in his memoir, "Spare," William wanted Harry to shave since his own efforts to wear a beard had been thwarted in the past, as well as to uphold army rules. Even so, Harry's decision to keep the beard won out due to gaining the queen's support. 

When Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, was persuading Queen Elizabeth II to permit him to keep his beard for his wedding, he explained that his facial hair played a key role in his identity and his relationship with Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex. "I desperately wanted to hang on to something that had become an effective check on my anxiety," Harry wrote in "Spare." Harry asserted that Meghan only knew his bearded visage and was a big fan. "She loved to grab it and pull me in for a kiss. I didn't want her coming down the aisle and seeing a total stranger." When the queen consented, Harry recalled that William, Prince of Wales, was annoyed and reportedly claimed that Harry had pushed their grandmother into giving her consent. Harry chalked his brother's reaction up to jealousy since William had been clean-shaven for his own wedding.

During an interview with ITV's Tom Bradby, Harry hypothesized that his attachment to his facial hair might be more understandable to other people who have had the experience of growing a beard. Adam Mallaby of Beyond, a mental health charity for young people, corroborated Harry's sentiments. "It's almost like a bit of a comfort blanket, a bit of a safety net," Mallaby explained to the BBC. Mental health has long been an important topic for the duke, and Harry has been candid about discussing his go-to methods of self-care.

When the future of Prince Harry's beard was in doubt before his 2018 wedding, an Esquire poll demonstrated that the prince's beard is beloved by many people in addition to Meghan Markle. An impressive 86% of respondents voted that they preferred Harry's beard over his former clean-shaven look. Some pro-beard fans suggested a compromise of Harry trimming and shaping his beard ahead of his nuptials,  a conclusion that the prince seemingly came to as well since his facial hair was a bit shorter on his big day. 

Besides making Harry feel more comfortable, his beard has helped him to be more approachable to fans. In 2018, during a royal tour of Ireland,  a young fan greeted Harry by touching his signature beard. Months later, a young Australian boy was delighted to see the prince because Harry's beard reminded him of Santa. While the boy's parents were concerned about breaking protocol by touching a royal, this "rule" is actually a misconception. Harry has a long track record of making a meaningful connection with kids, something that's more personality-based than facial hair-based. In his usual relaxed, friendly style, Harry kneeled down to the little boy's eye level. The prince developed an instant rapport with the child by hugging him and letting him touch his beard.