Prince Harry Broke the Rules and Didn’t Shave His Beard For the Royal Wedding

Much of the attention for the royal wedding was on Meghan Markle, whom we can all now call the Duchess of Sussex. Which designer would design her dress? (Clare Waight Keller for Givenchy, to answer your question.) How would she do her hair and makeup? (Refreshingly simple and natural, it would seem.) But there was some debate about Prince Harry’s grooming routine before the big day. Would he or would he not shave his beard?

See, Prince Harry is a Captain in the British Royal Army (aka Her Majesty’s Army), and there’s a longstanding rule in the British military that state’s troops in uniform cannot have facial hair. And since Harry would be donning his uniform for the wedding, the thought was he may shave his beard—a signature part of his look that Markle has always known him to have. (Imagine if your spouse-to-be changed their look the day before your wedding?)

Well, in typical Prince Harry fashion, he broke the rules and kept his beard for the wedding—albeit nicely trimmed and more closely groomed to the face than usual.

It’s not the first time, however, that a royal family member has used his status to get away with not having to shave. Harry’s great-grandfather King George V was often seen with a beard despite his role in the Army. So while yes, the (now) Duke of Sussex was breaking the rules, he’s not the first royal to skirt tradition.