Only a few royals choose to wear a beard these days — and only one also accessorizes with an eyepatch.
Category
✨
PeopleTranscript
00:00Only a few royals choose to wear a beard these days, and only one also accessorizes with
00:05an eye patch.
00:07Always impeccably turned out, it's hard to imagine King Charles III with a five o'clock
00:11shadow, but in the king's youth, he was considered something of a royal rebel.
00:15Beards were widespread in the 1970s, and Charles jumped onto the trend, growing facial hair
00:19on several occasions throughout the decade.
00:21He joined the Royal Navy in 1971, leaving in 76, and it's possible that he grew out
00:26his fuzz to enjoy a semblance of anonymity while serving in the forces.
00:30His fuzz was fleeting, and he soon went back to a slick, smooth appearance.
00:34This may be due to the late Queen Elizabeth's intense aversion to facial hair.
00:37A royal insider told Hello!,
00:39"[She doesn't mind royal men growing beards when they are away in the armed forces or
00:43out in the wilds, but she expects them to be clean-shaven when they get home.]
00:47Ordinarily, Prince William is the epitome of old-money prestige, expertly fitted designer
00:52suits, cashmere sweaters, and some of the best shoes that money can buy.
00:57But with facial hair, his look was more akin to a geography teacher than second in line
01:00to the throne.
01:01William debuted his facial hair in 2008 while in the Royal Navy.
01:05After serving in Barbados, William retained his beard while on a pheasant shoot.
01:08Since Queen Elizabeth never cared for facial hair, he was apparently told to shave it off,
01:13and was livid.
01:14According to Prince Harry, William took it out on Harry, trying to sabotage his attempts
01:18at a beard.
01:19Harry wrote in his memoir, Spare, that when he asked why William was making such a big
01:22deal about Harry's beard, William replied,
01:24"...because I wasn't allowed to keep my beard."
01:27Ah, there it was.
01:28After he'd come back from an assignment with special forces, Willie was sporting a full
01:31beard, and someone told him to be a good boy, run along, and shave it.
01:36When clean-shaven, Prince Harry had a boyish, baby-face look to him, appearing younger than
01:40his years.
01:41After growing out his stubble in 2013, he began to look more mature, less regal, and
01:46most significantly, far more approachable.
01:48Indeed, his demeanor now exudes that of an average dude.
01:52This change was significant for Harry, who said that his beard helps with his anxiety.
01:56Initially, Queen Elizabeth was unhappy with Harry retaining his beard after serving in
01:59the armed forces.
02:01Not intent on upsetting his grandmother, he was reportedly considering a trip to the barber,
02:05but eventually opted to keep his gin-germane.
02:07Now, facial fuzz is very much a part of the prince's brand, and he is rarely, if ever,
02:12seen without it.
02:13When his wedding day approached, he was allegedly ordered by Prince William to shave off his
02:17beloved beard in what has been dubbed Beardgate.
02:20Harry told ITV,
02:21I said, well, I don't believe that Meghan's gonna recognize me if she comes up the aisle
02:24and sees me beardless.
02:25A lot of it is to do with, I mean, I refer to it as heir spare, but also older brother,
02:32younger brother."
02:33He then explained the importance of his facial hair, saying,
02:36"'I would feel very, very different without my beard, and that's hard for people to understand
02:40who've never grown a beard.
02:41But hopefully those beard people out there will go, yeah, no, I fully get that.
02:45I can understand.'"
02:46The late Prince Philip might be the royal you'd least expect to sport scruff, but back
02:52in 1957, the duke, then age 36, showcased a full beard while wearing his naval uniform.
02:57With a beard, Philip looked eerily similar to Willem Dafoe's grizzled sailor in the movie
03:01The Lighthouse.
03:02I seen it.
03:03You're fond of me lobster."
03:06It wasn't the first time he had grown a beard.
03:08He also sported one during World War II, and in 1965, he once again grew out his stubble
03:14during a five-month-long Commonwealth tour.
03:16Upon his return, Queen Elizabeth took the opportunity to troll her husband.
03:20As Robert Hardman revealed in his book Queen of the World, it was a comedy moment when
03:24the queen and duke were finally reunited.
03:26Knowing that he had grown a beard on his travels, the queen had arranged for everyone in the
03:30royal entourage, herself included, to put on fake whiskers just before the duke walked
03:34in.
03:35The Spanish royals lead enviably lavish lifestyles, but one item that's not on King Felipe VI's
03:41whole foods receipt is shaving cream.
03:44Rocking a beard isn't mere experimentation for the Spanish king, it's a way of life.
03:48In fact, Felipe is one of the only monarchs in Europe to sport a permanent beard.
03:53But there once was a time when the king didn't have a beard.
03:56When he was crowned in 2014 following the abdication of his scandal-prone father, Felipe
04:00looked completely different.
04:02An absence of facial hair made him appear rather ordinary, resembling a politician rather
04:06than a royal.
04:07The beard has given the king's face character as well as a more debonair and sophisticated
04:12look.
04:13As The Telegraph pointed out, the king's fuzz is much more flattering for his face, with
04:16the newspaper even suggesting that the British monarch should follow suit.
04:19King Charles III might benefit from some of his own Spanish whiskers to lend his septuagenarian
04:24face a little extra scaffolding.
04:27Renowned for his commitment to stubble, Prince Carl Philip is the rather dapper son of King
04:31Carl XVI Gustaf.
04:33In his 20s, the prince was something of a pretty boy with his impossibly flawless baby
04:37face and floppy, Mr. Darcy-style hair.
04:40He certainly would not have looked out of place in a period drama or as the love interest
04:44in a twee 2000s rom-com, but with a beard, the prince has graduated to sex symbol status,
04:49with some claiming that he's a dead ringer for hunky Fifty Shades of Grey star Jamie
04:54Dornan.
04:55For Carl, a beard just makes sense, giving him a more mature and rugged look.
04:58The prince even donned a full beard when he tied the knot with Princess Sophia in 2015,
05:03which aside from the aforementioned Prince Harry, is uncommon when it comes to royal
05:07weddings.
05:08Then again, the Swedish prince is anything but conventional.
05:10This is, after all, the man who wed Sophia, herself a commoner and former reality TV star,
05:15to a soundtrack of Coldplay and Rihanna.
05:18Though Greece abolished its monarchy in 1973, the Greek royals still hold onto their titles.
05:24Crown Prince Pavlos is the son of the late Constantine II, the last king of Greece.
05:29Without facial hair, the prince looks rather dashing.
05:31In the 90s, for instance, he cut a figure right out of a storybook beside his bride,
05:35Marie Chantelle, Crown Princess of Greece.
05:38He continued with the clean-shaven countenance into middle age, until one day, something
05:42rather peculiar happened.
05:44Toward the end of 2020, Pavlos emerged with his face suddenly covered in hair.
05:48The new mustache and goatee made him look like a totally different person, ready to
05:52swashbuckle alongside the three musketeers.
05:54It seemed the prince took a liking to the look, and it has remained in place.
06:01This change in his appearance was compounded by the addition of an eye patch in December
06:052023, following retinal surgery.
06:08Sharing a snap of her husband's whiskers and eye patch combo on Instagram, Marie Chantelle
06:12wrote,
06:13"'Hopefully a temporary new look, but he's kind of cute.'"
06:16King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands is proof that facial hair really can change a
06:20person's entire appearance.
06:22When he ascended the throne in 2013, his face was smooth, but there were calls from the
06:26Dutch public for the monarch to grow a beard or a mustache.
06:29The king finally listened, debuting his luxurious ginger beard in 2019.
06:35The king, who was born in 1967, was rather fresh-faced.
06:38The addition of bristles aged him by a decade, but also bestowed a more approachable and
06:43less aristocratic look.
06:44It was a radical move, considering that it's uncommon for Dutch royals to undergo major
06:49makeovers.
06:50An etiquette expert told Newsbeaser,
06:51"'The king has always hinted that he wants to come across more loosely.
06:55This new beard reflects that.
06:56It makes him human.
06:57If you change frequently, it becomes more difficult to recognize.
07:00It's good to know what you want with it.
07:02It also requires some vigilance and work to keep it clean."
07:06Frederik X was crowned King of Denmark following the abdication of his mother in January 2024.
07:11As a young man, Frederik had a boyish, smooth-skinned countenance, but as he got older, he began
07:16growing out his stubble and went from pretty boy to silver fox.
07:20The king now wears a salt-and-pepper beard.
07:22In 2020, Frederik grew a wild mane during quarantine, before trimming it down for a
07:27post-lockdown haircut.
07:28As some commentators have pointed out, the beard is central to the king's humble and
07:32laid-back persona.
07:34Unlike many royals across the globe, he doesn't take himself too seriously, and even has multiple
07:38tattoos.
07:39A royal biographer told The Telegraph,
07:41"...he is already a star among many Danes.
07:43By nature he is open-minded, curious and down-to-earth.
07:47Even before becoming king, he has been nicknamed the Frogman King, the Rock and Roll King,
07:51the Sportsman King, and the Green King."
07:54Prince Håkon of Norway was as famed for his beard as he is for his flamboyant personality.
07:59While attending his parents' 80th birthday gala in 2017, Håkon shocked guests by arriving
08:04with a shaved face midway through the celebrations.
08:06He looked markedly different without the goatee, which gave his face some character and charm.
08:11Some felt that going without the beard emphasized his resemblance to Lord Farquaad from Shrek.
08:16Whereas the bearded look provides definition and highlights his classic features, the prince
08:20is proof of just how much facial hair can change a person's face.
08:23The clean-shaven look was short-lived, with the prince once again growing out his fuzz
08:27and appearing at subsequent events with a full beard.
08:30Tellingly, Håkon once revealed that his dream job was to be a surfer, a profession renowned
08:35for its beards and free spirits.
08:37He told NRK that if he hadn't been a royal,
08:39"...I would have been a pro surfer on the world tour."
08:42"...We stand for something.
08:44To those dead souls inching along the freeways in their metal coffins, we show them that
08:49the human spirit is still alive."
08:51The son of the late Grace Kelly, Prince Albert of Monaco usually opts for the clean-shaven
08:56look.
08:57With his receding hairline, he looks like he works for the civil service rather than
09:00the crown.
09:01But with a mustache, he appears far more like an old-school aristocrat.
09:05In 2017, Albert debuted his chevron mustache, which suited his regal bearing.
09:10It was the first time he had played around with facial hair, following in the footsteps
09:13of his paternal ancestors.
09:15Chatting to People, he discussed the patriotic significance of his whiskers.
09:19Along with his countrymen, he was paying tribute to 200 years of the Carabinier, a branch of
09:23Monaco's defense reserves.
09:25Historically, it was a requirement for soldiers to have mustaches.
09:28As their honorary colonel, I said,
09:30"...If you're sure you're all going to it, I'll do the same.
09:33We're almost at 95 percent mustaches now among the Carabinier Corps, or will be by Monaco's
09:37National Day on November 19th, so you'll see a lot of Stoches on parade in front of the
09:42palace."
09:43Though he looked distinguished with the Stoche, Albert's wife and kids weren't so keen.
09:47Subsequently, he was looking forward to the day he could finally shave it off.
09:50And these days, the prince is back to being bristle-free.
09:54Philippe of Belgium has been king since his father, Albert II, abdicated in 2013.
09:59Back in his princely days, Philippe exhibited some famous facial hair.
10:02In 2009, he debuted his beard and metamorphosed into an entirely different person.
10:07The gray beard was undeniably aging on the royal, then aged 49, though it also gave him
10:12silver fox appeal.
10:13The Belgian public agreed, with one newspaper reporting,
10:16"...some believe that it gives him a more mature appearance, more assured.
10:20Others say it makes him look a bit old."
10:21The prince even demanded that a set of commemorative stamps released in 2010 depict him with his
10:26beard.
10:27Despite his apparent dedication to the fuzz, though, he eventually shaved it off.
10:30After showcasing his gray stubble for the last time in 2012, he was clean-shaven when
10:34he was crowned in 2013, and so far has shown no signs of growing back the luxurious beard.