Prince William has gained all kinds of responses about his beard, but what does his wife, Kate Middleton, think of the look?
The Prince of Wales, 42, has been sporting some headline-making facial hair since the summer, and on March 17, the Princess of Wales addressed the “trend” in a candid moment.
Princess Kate, 43, made an official royal visit to the Wellington Barracks in London to celebrate the St. Patrick’s Day holiday with the Irish Guards, meeting with senior officers and surveying the troops during their annual parade.
After having a toast with a pint of Guinness in the sergeants’ mess, Princess Kate was heard chatting with section commanders about her husband’s beard.
“These trends come and go,” she said. “I was saying to my husband, I’m not sure how long he’s going to keep his for.”
In a February 2025 interview with 60 Minutes Australia, Jason Knauf, a former royal aide to the Prince and Princess of Wales, offered a more candid perspective regarding Kate’s feelings about her husband’s beard.
“If she didn’t like it, it wouldn’t be there. I could tell you that,” he said.
While Kate’s latest thoughts about William’s beard were vague, the couple’s 9-year-old daughter, Princess Charlotte, was unable to hide her reaction to her dad’s facial hair when he first grew it out last year.
In a November 2024 interview during his visit to Cape Town, South Africa, for the Earthshot Prize Awards, Willliam admitted, “Well, Charlotte didn’t like it the first time. I got floods of tears, the first one I got tears, so I had to shave it off.”
After a bit of persuasion, the royal father of three grew it back.
“I thought, ‘Hang on a second.’ And I convinced her it was going to be okay,” William added.
When one of the reporters in South Africa said the prince’s new facial hair gave him a laid-back, “relaxed” look, William admitted that appearances can be deceiving.
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“It’s interesting you say that, because I couldn’t be less relaxed this year, so it’s very interesting you’re all seeing that,” he said about the past year, which saw both his wife and father, King Charles, diagnosed with cancer.
“But it’s more a case of just crack on, and you’ve got to keep going,” he said.
Prince William was first spotted with a beard during the Christmas holidays in 2008. However, the look didn’t stick — unlike his brother, Prince Harry, who has regularly worn a beard since 2015.
Prince Harry even sought special permission from his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth, to keep his facial hair for his May 2018 wedding to Meghan Markle.
While the Queen agreed, Harry wrote in his 2023 memoir, Spare, that his decision to wear a beard while getting married in his military uniform led to a spat with his older brother.
“Willy always thought Granny had a soft spot for me,” Harry explained in his memoir, “that she indulged me while holding him to an impossibly high standard. Because…Heir, Spare, etc. It irked him.”
After William insisted again that he shave, Harry recalled exclaiming, “For the love of God, Willy, why does this matter so much to you?”
“Because I wasn’t allowed to keep my beard,” his brother answered, according to Harry.
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