Prince Harry claims William was ‘livid’ he kept beard for his wedding, calls brother’s baldness ‘alarming’

‘At one point he actually ordered me, as the ‘heir’ speaking to the ‘spare,’ to shave,’ Harry reportedly writes in his memoir

Prince Harry has reportedly claimed that Prince William was “livid” after the Duke of Sussex asked permission from the late Queen Elizabeth II to keep his beard for his 2018 wedding to Meghan Markle.

In an excerpt from the royal’s forthcoming autobiography, the 38-year-old royal reportedly wrote that his grandmother gave him the “green light” to keep his facial hair for his televised nuptials to the Suits actress.

However, Harry alleged his older brother “bristled” at the notion and said Harry had put their grandmother in an “uncomfortable position.”

During a conversation between the two, Harry reportedly told the Prince of Wales that “his opinion didn’t really matter” because the queen had already said he could keep his face unshaven.

“He raised his voice,” he wrote, adding that William said the queen “had no choice but to say yes” to Harry. The Spare author recalled finding his brother’s claim ridiculous, and told William that “she can speak for herself.”

Harry had speculated that his brother was angry about the beard because he thought the queen had a “soft spot” for the younger prince.

While the late British monarch had decided her grandson could wear a beard during his wedding, the fight between the brothers allegedly continued over the phone for an entire week.

“At one point he actually ordered me, as the ‘heir’ speaking to the ‘spare,’ to shave,” Harry wrote.

According to Page Six, Prince William allegedly confessed that he was “bitter” that he “wasn’t allowed” to keep his own “full beard” after returning home from a military assignment.

Prince William arrives at St Mary Magdalene Church on the Queen’s Sandringham estate for Christmas Day church service in 2008 (PA)

“He hated the idea of me enjoying a perk he’d been denied,” he wrote, adding that William wasn’t able to get married in a uniform of his own choosing while Harry was able to do so.

“Finally, I told him flatly and defiantly that his bearded brother was getting married soon, and he could either get on board or not,” Harry said. “The choice was to him.”

This wasn’t the only hair-related incident that took place inside palace walls. A separate excerpt from Spare, obtained by the Daily Mail, shows that Prince Harry even made digs at his brother’s hairline.

Upon returning to the UK for the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral in April 2021, Harry requested a private meeting with his brother and father, now King Charles III. The Spare author wrote that his brother’s baldness was “alarming” and more “advanced than mine,” per the Daily Mail.

Prince Harry wears a beard on the day of his wedding to Meghan Markle (AFP via Getty Images)

The duke added that his older brother’s resemblance to their mother, the late Princess Diana, had “faded”.

Prince Harry and Prince William’s beard row is just one of many shocking arguments between the brothers described in Harry’s forthcoming memoir, which will be released on 10 January.

Extracts from the autobiography were leaked on Wednesday evening after The Guardian obtained a copy of the book ahead of his release. Perhaps the biggest claim from the book was that Prince William physically attacked Harry at his Nottingham Cottage home in 2019 over the Duke of Sussex’s marriage to Meghan Markle.

The alleged physical altercation occurred after William called Meghan “difficult”, “rude” and “abrasive”, which Harry retorted was a “parrot[ing of] the press narrative” about his wife. The fight escalated when William allegedly grabbed Harry by the collar, ripped his necklace off and “knocked” him to the ground.