Though it’s been a tradition for Mountbatten-Windsor men to come home with a bit of scruff after training or trekking, that doesn’t mean Her Majesty approves.
Royal correspondent Phil Dampier reports that the Queen “intensely dislikes” facial hair, and made it quite clear to Prince Harry that he is to remove his beard “sooner rather than later.”
To the delight of many, Harry walked to church on Christmas Day sporting his ginger scruff. He told well-wishers that it was a “tradition” in his family, held up by the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Charles, Prince Andrew and Prince William.
While gathered at Sandringham over the holiday, most of the family loved teasing Harry about his “Windsor whiskers,” but granny was not amused.
“The Queen soon let her displeasure be known,” a royal source told the Sunday Express. ”She doesn’t mind royal men growing beards when they are away in the Armed Forces or out in the wilds like Harry was in the Antarctic, but she expects them to be clean-shaven when they get home.
“Royal staff are not supposed to grow beards or mustaches and she probably thinks it is difficult to enforce that rule when her own grandson has a beard,” the source added, noting that the Queen sees facial hair as too “scruffy” and “inappropriate” for the workplace.
“Harry doesn’t like to upset the Queen and will probably shave it off soon but he is still a bit of a rebel and he wasn’t going to remove it straight away.”
There is one lady to whom Harry wants to give a whisker kiss.
“He wanted to show it off to Cressida [Bonas] first and see what she thought of it.”
It’s believed that Bonas spent New Year’s at Sir Richard Branson‘s Necker Island (her older sister, Isabella is married to Branson’s son, Sam).
Though she and Harry are allegedly smitten kittens, they are taking their time and not rushing into an engagement right now.
