from The New York Times

Where Beards Grow, Strong Feelings Follow

Whether on Prince William, JD Vance or Jacob Elordi, facial hair gets people talking.

By Jacob Gallagher

Prince William is seen in profile. He has a scruffy beard and is wearing a suit.
Prince William has had a beard at public appearances in recent weeks.Credit…Pool photo by Justin Tallis

As far as beards go, his is more measly than grizzly.

For the past several months, Prince William, the shiny-headed British royal, has been fostering a modest bit of scruff. The heir to the British throne debuted the beard in August, with an Instagram post congratulating Team Britain on their success at the Olympics. At that time the growth was slight, as if he had forgotten his razor over a long weekend, the strands barely connecting with his sideburns.

That version of the Prince’s patchy beard didn’t last. As he told People magazine in November, he shaved at the behest of his daughter, Princess Charlotte, who was reported to have fallen into “floods of tears” at the sight of her father’s new look.

But this past week the beard was back — fuller, if only just so — as Prince William served Christmas lunch at a charity organization in London and attended the reopening of Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris over the weekend.

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