Beards back on parade in the Army as ban ends
Troops were seen sporting facial hair on duty for first time at Buckingham Palace sparking a bristly debate
IT is a somewhat prickly debate that continued to divide opinion yesterday.
As the Army finally ended its 100-year-old ban on serving soldiers sporting beards, members of the Welsh Guard appeared on duty at Buckingham Palace for the first time, proudly displaying an array of facial hairstyles.
The decision was signed off by the King, commander in chief of the Army, last month. But royal approval does not equate to public support.
One former soldier was appalled at the very sight of facial hair on parade.
Robert Clark, who served in the Army for 15 years, including deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, suggested the new look was “horrendous”.
“I spoke to friends in the Grenadier Guards, they couldn’t believe it,” he said. You don’t have the uniformity of everyone looking the same which is the whole point of uniform and being regimented and disciplined. Even the drill sergeant was sporting a beard which turned a lot of heads. They said it looks horrendous, the lack of uniformity, the lack of a regimented singular look. It’s quite shocking to see,” he said.
Col Richard Kemp, who commanded troops in Afghanistan, Iraq, the Balkans, and Northern Ireland, agreed that “appearance is everything” when it comes to the Guards. “In many ways the whole purpose of the guard is to look uniform, to look very similar, to look smart,” he said.
Col Kemp warned that it might prove to be a slippery slope. “It’s almost like maybe the next day you’ll be having long hair,” he added. “I don’t think it’s a great move personally but this is the modern world so I suppose things change. What can you do? I’m sure they are just as effective as fighting men with or without beards.”
Among the throngs of tourists outside Buckingham Palace, there was a little more support for the bearded soldiers. Waqar Haider, a civil engineer from Pakistan, added: “I think it is good thing if they are trimming. A little off here, a little off there. You have to properly maintain it to be well-dressed. Now they look like Prince Harry.”
The Duke of Sussex, who served in the Army for ten years, would almost certainly be a fan. His own beard has been the subject of much debate, even proving a bone of contention with his brother, the Prince of Wales. Prince William was said to have been “livid” that the Duke was allowed to sport a beard on his wedding day, having ordered him to shave it off. The fraternal argument continued “in person, on the phone, for more than a week”. The Duke accused his brother of being “competitive” because the late Queen had ordered him to remove a beard he grew during a military assignment in 2008 but allowed Harry to keep his bristles. Only “beard people” would understand his anger, he insisted.
“I would feel very, very different without my beard, and that’s hard for people to understand who’ve never grown a beard but hopefully those beard people out there will go ‘Yeah, no, I fully get that, I can understand’.”
An Army spokesman said: “We appreciate that change is often divisive and not everyone will be in favour of the revised policy.
“Our consultations showed clearly that the majority of serving personnel and veterans were in favour of the change. We listened to our people.”
‘It looks horrendous, the lack of uniformity, the lack of a regimented singular look. It’s shocking to see’