Prince William's Latest Action Provokes Full-Scale Royal 'War' With Prince Harry

The latest feature of Prince William and Prince Harry's long-running rift is said to come down to the future king's choice to now sport a bearded look.

"William's beard actually created the latest installment of what people have dubbed the 'Beard Wars,'" GBN's digital royal editor, Svar Nanan-Sen told royal correspondent Cameron Walker.

"This goes back to Prince Harry writing in Spare that William was furious that he had chosen to keep his beard for his wedding to Meghan in 2018," Nanan-Sen added.

The Duke of Sussex-to-be told ITV's Tom Bradby in early 2023 that he sought the late Queen Elizabeth II's permission, in her role as Commander-in-Chief of the British Armed Forces, if he could keep his facial hair for his wedding. This was despite the military having strict rules against men sporting facial hair, which apparently is what led William to demand Harry to "shave it off."

The fiery-haired prince told the presenter he would have felt "very, very different without my beard," as he eloped with his Duchess in May 2018.

"That's hard for people to understand who've never grown a beard, but hopefully those beard people out there will go, 'Yeah, I get that, I can understand,'" HRH added.

"Prince Harry wrote in Spare, 'When I informed William 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.'" Nanan-Sen continued. "He added that William accused Harry of putting their grandmother in an 'uncomfortable position, saying she had no choice but to say yes.' So this is because Harry felt so strongly about his beard and the fact that he didn't want to shave it off for the wedding, that he spoke to the late Queen and asked for permission to keep it."

The editor further observed: "Prince Harry has also referred to his beard in Spare as his 'security blanket,' so it's something that Prince Harry obviously feels really passionate about. Now it looks like Williams briefly joined him with also sporting a beard."

This led Walker to point out: "Yes, quite possibly. I think it'll be interesting to see if this was just a relaxed Prince William on holiday, can't be bothered to shave, did a video last minute because he had to for the Olympics and he'll shave it off come September when he's back on full-time public duties."

The Prince of Wales and Duke of Sussex have reportedly not spoken to one another since Elizabeth II's State Funeral on September 19, 2022. The king-in-waiting was said to have "fully pulled the plug on communication" with his brother after the latter published his memoir in January 2023.