The year 2008 seems like a lifetime ago, doesn’t it? I mean, that’s the year gas was over four dollars, Rod Blagojevich was a thing, writers in Hollywood went on strike, and Prince William had a beard. Wait, what now?

That’s right, ten years ago William not only had some hair left upstairs, but he had also gone the “I’m a protagonist in an action movie who has seen way too much in my life” look. Just set your eyes on his beard in the pics below!

Prince William
Getty Images

Ah yes, three years before William would go on to marry Kate Middleton, and five years before the Prince would have his first child — the latter of which we’re sure played a big part in William finally losing all his hair on his head — the Duke of Cambridge rocked a beard. William’s past look should also serve as a reminder that before Queen Elizabeth gave Prince Harry permission to have some scruff during his wedding to Meghan Markle, it was William who first had a beard that screamed, “Look, I can sleep in, wake up, get out of bed, and just head out as usual.” People even suggested that William looked like his dad, Prince Charles, circa 1976 with his facial hair.

Back in the ’70s, Charles seriously looked like he was about to completely empty your wallet at the golf course. Anyways… As for the reason behind William’s beard, The Telegraph had a few suggestions way back when and they believed that it was William’s attempt at disguising his identity during the SBS mission. The outlet also suggested that William was following family tradition, as Charles grew a beard while in the Royal Navy in Alaska in 1975.

Prince William
Getty Images

But while the Queen was completely fine with Harry’s beard in 2018, she wasn’t with William’s, as a royal source once told the Sunday Express in 2014 that the Queen “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.”

We’re just glad that William got to experiment his look a bit before becoming a family man. And hey, there’s plenty of time for him to invest in a motorcycle or a convertible if he chooses to do so.

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