Prince William Hires New Equerry — and They’ve Got More in Common Than Their Beards

Prince William has a new right-hand man at work — and they share some similarities, both in their style and their resumes!

It was confirmed this week that the Prince of Wales, 42, brought on Sqn. Ldr. Mike Reynolds as a new equerry, a role he is taking on following service in the Royal Air Force (RAF). Like William, Reynolds is a helicopter pilot. Beyond that commonality, the pair are aligned when it comes to personal style — both men are currently sporting beards (as seen in photos obtained by Tatler).

According to the outlet, Reynolds is replacing Lt. Cdr. Rob Dixon, who is heading back to the Royal Navy after four years as equerry for Prince William. Equerries are senior aides who assist members of the royal family with their official duties and come from one of the three branches of the British Armed Forces. 

Dixon was pictured with the prince at the Sovereign’s Parade at RAF Cranwell in Lincolnshire on Sept. 12, where William sported a beard with his military uniform for the first time ever. The Prince of Wales has historically been clean-shaven, and sparked a frenzy when he debuted some stubble in a video with his wife Kate Middleton, issued on Aug. 11 to congratulate Team Great Britain on their success at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Royal watchers were caught off-guard because it was the first time that Prince William appeared with facial hair since 2008, when he wore a full beard for the royal family’s walk to church on Christmas at Sandringham. William then began training as a Search and Rescue Pilot for the RAF 2009 and later worked the job in Wales from 2010 to 2013, serving in an era when facial hair wasn’t allowed in the branch! 

The RAF relaxed the stance in 2019, and the British Army dropped the beard ban entirely in March of this year, though Prince Harry wrote in his 2023 memoir Spare that it caused tension with his brother when Queen Elizabeth gave him permission to have a beard at his wedding to Meghan Markle in 2018.

When Harry asked why he was bothered by their grandmother’s decision, William said, “Because I wasn’t allowed to keep my beard,” Harry wrote in Spare. 

The Duke of Sussex, 40, continued that it was “not a small ask,” because beards were forbidden (at the time) in the Army, and he was getting married in military uniform. The Queen gave the green light, but Prince Harry wrote that his brother was “bristled” and told him to “shave it off.”

“Ah — there it was… He hated the idea of me enjoying a perk he’d been denied,” Prince Harry wrote. 

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While Prince William seemed to shave the summer stubble when he drove to church with Princess Kate near Balmoral Castle on Aug. 25, he returned to work on Sept. 5 in London, facial hair clearly visible. The Prince of Wales rocked some stubble again at the Homelessness: Reframed exhibit at the Saatchi Gallery, checking out the display connected to his Homewards campaign — and seems to be letting it grow since that engagement. 

Following the stop at RAF Cranwell on Sept. 12, he appeared with fuller facial hair for a set of engagements in Aberdeen, Scotland on Sept. 19 to further the work of Homewards, an initiative from the Royal Foundation working to make homelessness, in Prince William’s words, “rare, brief and unrepeated.”