Prince Harry
Britain's Prince Harry walks to a Christmas Day morning service at the church on the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk REUTERS
Britain's Prince Harry walks to a Christmas Day morning service at the church on the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk CREDIT: REUTERS

Prince Harry's beard may have gained him praises from the media and his relatives, but not with his own grandmother.

Express reports that Queen Elizabeth II has just ordered her grandson with Prince Charles to shave off his facial hair 'sooner rather than later.'

Prince Harry had his beard ever since his expedition to Antarctica last November which ended just before the holidays. Ever since he showed up at Sandringham for the family Christmas celebration, almost all of his relatives took notice of the beard the same color of his hair.

For instance, his brother Prince William and sister-in-law Catherine loved his 'Windsor Whiskers.' His cousin Zara Philips-Tindall even dubbed him as 'Prince Hairy,' according to a royal insider.

But apparently the Queen Royal was not as pleased.

'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 moustaches and she probably thinks it is difficult to enforce that rule when her own grandson has a beard,' says the same royal insider to Express.

There is no written rule forbidding facial hair among the royal staff, but according to a staff member at the Buckingham Palace, 'You are told not to grow a beard or moustache and that comes from the top. It would not go down well if you tried it on. The Queen thinks they look scruffy and are inappropriate at work.'

Harry promised his grandmother to shave it off, but not right away like the Queen wanted to.

'He wanted to show it off to Cressida (Bonas) first and see what she thought of it,' adds the insider.

Prince Harry was not the only royal who grew a beard in his lifetime. Back in 2008, Prince William grew a full beard when he participated in a naval exercise in Barbados, and kept it for the holiday celebration in Sandringham. And in 1975, Prince Charles also grew facial hair during the naval exercises in Alaska.