Prince William cut a rugged figure in London on Thursday, showing that his bold makeover which made headlines back in August is here to stay after the summer vacation.
William attended a private viewing of the "Homelessness: Reframed" exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery in London on Thursday afternoon, marking his return to work after the traditional royal summer vacation.
Though dressed in his typical style of a classic-cut dark colored suit with a white shirt and open collar, his appearance is notable for the addition of a fresh face of stubble.
William's new bearded look was debuted in August during a video recorded alongside Princess Kate which was released to mark the end of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Though some claimed that the usually close shaven prince typically grows out his facial hair during the summer break, others in the press and online speculated that William's new look could be here to stay.
The last time the prince had worn a full beard was during Christmas in 2008. He had grown it out during a training operation with the British Royal Navy in Barbados, the navy allowing its servicemen to wear facial hair in uniform with the permission of their commanding officer.
The other branches of the armed forces at the time were not so flexible with their uniform regulations and William was made to shave off his beard before joining his training course with the Royal Air Force to become a search and rescue pilot in January 2009.
In 2023, Prince Harry claimed in his memoir, Spare, that beards had been a topic of jealousy with his brother after Queen Elizabeth II had granted Harry special permission to appear wearing his facial hair in Army uniform at his 2018 wedding to Meghan Markle.
Harry left the Armed Forces in 2015 but still held a number of honorary positions and patronages. As commander of the Armed Forces in Britain, the monarch had the power to grant a request to go against the strict uniform rules.
Harry claimed that when William found out that the queen had bent the rules for her grandson, he commanded him to "shave it off" in a fit of jealousy.
"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," Harry told memoir readers. "He hated the idea of me enjoying a perk he'd been denied."
William did not publicly respond to the claims made within Harry's memoir, in line with a "no comment" position adopted by Buckingham Palace at the time of the book's publication.
Facial hair has been sported by numerous members of the royal family throughout history. Prince Albert sported a pair of neatly trimmed mustaches in the 1840s. King Edward VII and King George V wore full beards. Prince Philip and King Charles III also grew out their beards while serving with the royal navy.
James Crawford-Smith is Newsweek's royal reporter based in London. You can find him on Twitter at @jrcrawfordsmith and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.
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