Prince William's 'Beard War' With Prince Harry Might Have Everything To Do With Queen Elizabeth II

Prince William showed off his scruffy vacation beard over the weekend in a video clip supporting the Olympic athletes of Great Britain. However, there might be more to the story than just a bit of facial hair. It’s what one royal insider described to The Daily Beast as a “beard war” with his younger brother, Prince Harry.

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A sibling feud over a beard? Is that even possible? Well, the Duke of Sussex alluded to the issue in his 2023 memoir, Spare. After returning from his South Pole expedition, Harry debuted his “Freudian security blanket” aka his beard. It’s something that the public became used to, and he felt it made him feel “calmer.” However, it became an issue between Harry and William before his 2018 wedding to Meghan Markle.

While Queen Elizabeth II “understood” his style preferences and gave her blessing, it was the now-Prince of Wales who “bristled” over his brother’s facial hair because it defied military customs even though there were other bearded kings throughout history. “When I informed him that his opinion didn’t really matter since I’d already gone to Granny and got the green light, he became livid. He raised his voice, ” Harry wrote.

Well, William didn’t like that and “actually ordered me, as the Heir speaking to the Spare, to shave,” Harry claimed. The Duke of Sussex believed that his older brother “hated the idea of me enjoying a perk he’d been denied” after he was forced to shave his beard after a military mission. However, palace insiders believe the “beard wars” go beyond a simple facial hair feud. A royal source told The Daily Beast that it was the “ special treatment ” Harry received from his grandmother that irked everyone.

“He would turn around and say, ‘Well, Granny said so, so there.’ He was no great respecter of the line between monarch and grandmother, between the institutional and the personal,” they claimed while supporting William’s argument that Harry shouldn’t have “put his grandmother in the position.” It’s reportedly why people made great efforts to block him from seeing her after Prince Harry’s exit from the royal family. “They were terrified he would wheedle concessions out of her,” the insider said.

Queen Elizabeth was known to have a soft spot for Harry, which wasn’t always felt by Prince William — and the “beard wars” only added to that tension. With the late monarch not there to have Harry’s back anymore, he’s left to fend for himself at the palace where the welcome mat is rarely rolled out.

Click here to see a complete timeline of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s feud with the royal family.