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Prince William Rocks Vacation Beard on 1st Royal Engagement Since Summer Break

Fashion & Beauty

Sep 5, 2024 3:59 pm·

By Beth Shilliday

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New season, new look! Prince William kicked off his first royal engagement since his summer break by sporting the beard he grew out over his vacation.

The Prince of Wales, 42, rocked a closely trimmed beard that bordered on stubble while visiting the exhibition “Homelessness: Reframed,” at London’s Saatchi Gallery on Thursday, September 5. The presentation was part of William’s Homewards campaign to help end homelessness in Great Britain.

William debuted a longer beard in an August 11 Instagram video alongside his wife, Princess Kate Middleton, as they congratulated athletes from the U.K on their Olympic success. Fans went wild over his slightly scruffier look while he was on his summer break, but now he’s taking the beard out on royal appearances.

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Prince William Rocks Beard on Royal Engagement

Hello!

William’s facial hair glowed in the sun as he arrived at the gallery. The beard that featured blonde hairs with specks of gray was noticeably trimmed back from how long he grew it out over his summer break.

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Handsome

His royal visit marked the first time William wore facial hair on an official engagement. The prince hasn’t worn a full beard in public since he was photographed with one while attending Christmas Day church services in Sandringham, England, in 2008.

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Interested

William used hand gestures while talking to a member of the exhibit’s team.

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A Big Change

William’s estranged brother, Prince Harry, wrote in his 2023 memoir, Spare, that their late grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, forbade the heir to the throne from wearing a beard.

The Duke of Sussex claimed the monarch allowed him to keep his beard for his 2018 wedding to Meghan Markle, but William was “bristled” when he found out. Harry wrote that when he asked his sibling why he was so bothered by the queen’s decision, he replied, “Because I wasn’t allowed to keep my beard,” according to the memoir.

“Ah — there it was,” Prince Harry wrote. “After he’s 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.”

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Prince William Rocks Vacation Beard on 1st Royal Engagement Since Summer Break 2

Will He Keep It?

Now that William’s father, King Charles III, is the ruling monarch, it appears His Majesty isn’t as strict as his mother when it comes to royal facial hair.

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