Real reason Prince Harry was allowed to keep his beard but Prince William had to shave his
Prince Harry plucked up the courage to ask the late Queen Elizabeth if he could keep his beard on his wedding day – despite it being against protocol.
Harry and William clashed over whether he could keep his beard on his wedding day (Image: Getty)
Prince Harry had to pluck up the courage to ask the late Queen Elizabeth II if he could keep his beard to marry Markle Markle on his wedding day as beards were “forbidden” in the British Army at the time.
King Charles’s youngest son explained that he was initially “stressed” about asking the late Queen’s permission to marry the former TV actress, and then worried about the request that followed.
As documented in the bombshell memoir, Spare, released in January 2023, Harry wrote: “After all the stress of asking Granny for permission to marry Meg, I thought I’d never have the courage to ask her for anything else.
“And yet I now dared to make another ask – Granny, please, may I, for my wedding, keep my beard?”
Harry documents how having a beard was viewed by some as a “violation” of rules if wearing an army uniform and that it was not a “small ask”.
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Prince Harry on his wedding day May 19, 2018 (Image: Getty)
The Duke of Sussex explained: “Not a small ask either. A beard was thought by some to be a clear violation of protocol and long-standing norms, especially since I was getting married in my Army uniform. Beards were forbidden in the British Army.”
To Harry’s delight, the Queen “understood” Harry’s beard made him feel “calmer”. However, Harry claims his bother was “livid” about the decision and reports William as saying: “You put her in an uncomfortable position, Harold! She had no choice but to say yes.”
Prince Harry also added that William “wouldn’t let it go” and that the argument continued “in person, on the phone, for more than a week”.
According to the Duke of Sussex, William ordered Harry to shave his beard off, with the Duke of Sussex asking “why on earth it mattered?”
“Because I wasn’t allowed to keep my beard”, William reportedly replied. Prince William has never responded to the claims or given his side of the story.
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Harry had to ask permission from the late Queen to keep his beard (Image: Getty)
Prince Harry also documents a claim William was told to shave his 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 went on to marry Meghan Markle on May 19, 2018, sporting a full beard with his army uniform.
In his memoir, Spare, Harry detailed personal arguments he claimed he had with family members, which in turn created a feud between himself and his father and brother, despite stepping down as a Royal Family member alongside his wife in 2020.
Prince Harry’s memoir Spare has become the fastest-selling non-fiction book in the UK since records began in 1998. The much-publicised book sold 467,183 copies in its first week, according to official figures from Nielsen BookData.
However, most of the revelations in the book leaked early after some copies went on sale in Spain several days before the official publication date.
The British Army relaxed its rules on facial hair, announcing in March this year that it was lifting its ban. Soldiers and officers are bow allowed to grow beards while serving in the British Army.
