Prince William’s hairy moment in Olympic video

Whether or not Prince William has taken criticism of his beard on the chin, it seems to have gone down well with his royal fans.

The New York Post’s Page Six, the paper of record for such moments, summed it up as “Wowza.”

However, there was a more cautious approach from the Beard Liberation Front, a group that campaigns in support of beards.

Spokesman and prominent letter writer Keith Flett says the group is “continuing to review Prince William’s latest beard and assessing if it is contributing to a positive image of the hirsute in the public eye”.

I suppose they are razor-sharp critics in such an organisation.

But the royal beard proved to be the talking point at the end of the Olympics, even overshadowing the appearance of Tom Cruise, who was seen travelling by motorbike, plane and parachute.

Prince William has already been something of a royal style pioneer, pushing ahead with the tie-less monarchy.

There’s often a casual, relaxed style on his visits, which is useful for putting people at ease.

It’s the dad at the school barbecue look. Although – apologies in advance – he’ll now be avoiding the barber queue.

William represents a millennial version of the monarchy and on visits he has the style of a generation that’s used to working from home. Or palace in his case.

It’s the depths of summer now though. So there’s no need to bristle and plenty of ways of keeping up to scratch.