Princess Charlotte was left in "floods of tears" after Prince William made a major change to his appearance - but he managed to persuade her it’ll be "ok".
As the Prince of Wales, Prince William faces a high level of interest every day of his life, so it’s perhaps no surprise that when he was first spotted sporting facial hair, a lot of attention was paid to this new look. What fans might not have expected, though, was the scrutiny that he apparently faced at home at Adelaide Cottage after opting to switch up his appearance. According to OK!, the future King opened up during an interview in South Africa where he’s been for the 2025 Earthshot Prize awards and explained that Princess Charlotte was not a fan of his beard when he first debuted it. So much so, that the devoted dad initially shaved it off.
"Well Charlotte didn't like it the first time. I got floods of tears, so I had to shave it off," he reportedly declared. "And then I grew it back. I thought, hang on a second, and I convinced her it was going to be OK."
Prince William didn’t mention the Princess of Wales’s reaction to his beard - or how Prince George and Louis responded. However, with Princess Charlotte in "floods of tears", it’s so heart-warming that he chose to initially shave it off. We all know a beard can make a huge difference to someone’s appearance and it was likely quite a big change for the 9-year-old to process, given her dad is typically cleanly-shaven.
Before his recent decision to grow facial hair, Prince William was rarely ever seen in public with a beard. The most notable time was Christmas Day in 2008 when he went to St Mary Magdalene Church, which is around 10 minutes' walk from where Sandringham House is, when he was just 26 years old. On this occasion his beard was possibly even more full than it is at the moment and Prince William first debuted his new facial hair back in August this year.
He had a beard in a video shared to congratulate the Team GB athletes on their performance in the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, but after Princess Charlotte’s unhappiness at the change, he then shaved it off and was clean-shaven a few weeks later when he attended church in Scotland with Kate. It seems to have been in the autumn that Princess Charlotte was convinced it "was going to be ok" as Prince William also didn’t have his beard in the video taken by Will Warr where Kate confirmed she’d "completed" her cancer treatment.
From early September when he attended the "Homelessness: Reframed" exhibition at the Saatchi gallery Prince William already had some facial hair and he’s kept it ever since. Now after having it for several months, it’s likely Princess Charlotte’s initial upset has faded away and she’s probably now very used to her dad’s new look.
This sweet revelation about her reaction to his beard wasn’t the only time Prince William spoke about his only daughter during his time in South Africa. He was pictured wearing an adorable friendship-style bracelet featuring the word, Papa, and later apparently disclosed in an interview ahead of the Earthshot Prize Awards that this was a present from Princess Charlotte.
As per People, Prince William said, "Well, this is a relic, if you like, from a Taylor Swift concert that my daughter decided that she wanted to create a bracelet for. She gave it to me when I came away. So I promised that I'd wear it and try not to lose it while I was out here."
The family went to watch Taylor Swift at Wembley in June and it seems like this friendship bracelet remains a treasured "relic" from this happy evening out.
