When the Prince of Wales first made the decision to grow his beard, he shared the amusing response from his daughter, Princess Charlotte.
In August, following the Paris 2024 Olympics, Prince William, 42, congratulated Team GB via video message, showcasing his new facial hair for the first time in a long time.
William was also questioned about his bearded appearance in an interview with UK print media in South Africa, where he acknowledged that it had been “the hardest year” of his life.
He laughed as he shared his daughter’s viewpoint, who is nine years old: “Well Charlotte didn’t like it the first time. I got floods of tears the first time I grew a beard, so I had to shave it off. And then I grew it back.”
A few weeks later, he was photographed with Catherine at a church service at Crathie Kirk, which is close to Balmoral, and he was clean-shaven.
However, upon returning to his royal duties following his summer assignment, he had once again grown facial hair while attending the Saatchi Gallery’s Homelessness: Reframed exhibition in London.
It was reported that while on a military secondment, the Prince’s late grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, had asked him to shave off his beard. The Prince was last spotted sporting a beard on Christmas Day in 2008.
In the British Army, it was strictly forbidden for soldiers to grow facial hair until recently.
Following a relaxation of the rules in March, beards and moustaches are now required to be well-groomed, neat, and subject to regular inspections.
As he wrapped up his four-day trip to Cape Town for the Earthshot Prize Awards, the Prince of Wales spoke to UK print media, highlighting the importance of impact for companies looking to fix the planet. He added: “We need to translate the sort of effort that we put into the visibility of the prize and particularly the visibility of the solutions.”
And when asked how his year had been amid his wife and father’s cancer diagnoses, he said: “It’s been dreadful. It’s probably been the hardest year in my life. So, trying to get through everything else and keep everything on track has been really difficult. But I’m so proud of my wife, I’m proud of my father, for handling the things that they have done. But from a personal family point of view, it’s been brutal.”
He said he hoped Catherine and his three kids had been able to watch the awards during the live YouTube stream, after admitting that Lebo M’s performance left him “emotional” at the star-studded ceremony.