Prince Harry's Beard Is Causing An Uproar At The Royal Wedding, But Why?

During the royal wedding, people were watching every move and detail of the bride and groom, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. While there are so many things to look at and pay attention to, people had a surprisingly close eye on Prince Harry's facial hair. Yes, his beard. You might be perplexed to know that Prince Harry's facial hair caused serious controversy during the wedding for this one very interesting reason: his outfit, according to CBS News.

As people awaited Prince Harry's arrival on Saturday morning, they also waited to see if he would arrive freshly shaven without that gorgeous red beard on his face. Since Prince Harry and Markle became engaged, people have adjusted to seeing his beard; it's become a part of him and his appearance now. But as he went to start this new chapter of his life on Saturday, a lot of people were wondering if he would start it beard-less.

His beard (or lack thereof) all depended on what he was going to wear to his wedding, according to CBS News. If Prince Harry were to wear his military uniform, according to Elle, royal protocol states that active duty members can't have facial hair while wearing their uniform. But since Prince Harry is retired, he can get away with a bearded face, according to commentary on NBC. The suspense was intense the day of the royal wedding leading up to Prince Harry's appearance, with people wondering if he would wear a military uniform or a suit.

And then he arrived, and he hadn't shaved.

Seriously, people on Twitter were freaking out about Prince Harry keeping the beard.

Never has a beard been more closely watched until Saturday, when people were speculating for weeks leading up to the wedding about the status of Prince Harry's face. But this was for a good reason — royal tradition and protocol is pretty fierce and having a beard, in some instances, breaks rules, according to Metro. As previously stated, Prince Harry having a beard and wearing a military uniform was a no-no, some historians told Metro. But because Prince Harry retired from the military in 2015, according to TODAY, it could have been that the rules no longer apply to him. Prince Harry is also known to be a bit of a rule breaker, according to Pop Sugar, which would make sense for the younger, more rebellious son of the future King of England, Prince Charles.

If Prince Harry had shaved his beard, it might have felt a little off to recent royal watchers who are just now hopping on the royal family train. It's kind of hard to imagine Prince Harry's face without the beard, but there was a sad and far away time when he didn't have it on his face, which is hard to believe.

Prince Harry first stepped out with his full beard in September 2015, according to GQ, and at the time, people didn't think it would last. This is because, according to GQ, the queen had ordered Prince Harry to shave his beard the year before. But since he grew his beard right around his retirement from the military, it was only right that he was able to keep it. Since then, Prince Harry has kept the beard. Him shaving it after three years of growing and maintaining it would have been kind of odd. And since Markle fell in love with a bearded Prince Harry (they got together in 2016, according to Town & Country), him shaving it might have even been weird for Markle.

Luckily, she had nothing to worry about. The beard was there, and hopefully it's here to stay.