The future king has gone on quite a journey with his hairline. From the start he had his mother’s thick glorious blonde hair.
Prince William experienced swooning crowds while he hid behind his long fringe as a teenage heartthrob. Decades later, Prince Harry called out his brother’s ‘alarming baldness’ in his best-selling memoir, Spare.
William then went on to have a buzzcut in 2018 after seeking advice from his wife’s hairdresser – marking a drastic change in his style.
More recently, William has opted for facial hair and was crowned the world’s sexiest bald man for the second consecutive year.
Zacharie Jardin, a senior stylist at Jo Hansford Harvey Nichols salon, told MailOnline: ‘I’d advise men who are balding to get a professional cut.’ He added: ‘With a clever cut, you can cover a receding hairline.’
According to Mr Jardin, a ‘beard adds style’ to a balding man’s appearance, especially when ‘groomed well’.
MailOnline looks back at how the heir to the throne has changed his hair style over the years…
Prince William, named the world’s sexiest bald man, pictured with his new beard in September
William aged 16 in 1999, the year he was labelled Tatler magazine’s hottest date for 2000
Hoards of swooning girls greeted teenager William in Vancouver during a Royal Tour of Canada in 1998.
The phenomena was dubbed ‘Willsmania’ by the press, with the 15-year-old prince right at the centre of it.
The Mail’s Richard Kay wrote at the time how there were ‘crowds of teenage girls weeping, screaming and jostling to just catch a glimpse of their idol’.
William, with a thick mop of blondish hair, would glance down, hiding behind his fringe, and smile shyly in response to all the attention.
One young girl in the crowd even suggested there should be a holiday in honour of the prince.
Sixteen-year-old Liana Ramano, said: ‘They should declare a national public holiday called William Day.’
A group of 5,000 girls, at one point during the trip, greeted the bashful prince with cards, flowers and their outstretched hands.
The craze went even further when, in 1999, Tatler magazine named 17-year-old William as the hottest date for 2000.
The young prince pictured amid ‘Willsmania’ in Vancouver back in 1998
Crowds of young girls cheering and holding signs for the prince in Vancouver
A royal fan holding up a sign for Prince William in Canada during the Royal Tour in 1998
Thirteen-year-old William pictured smiling on his first day at Eton College in 1995
Bashful William, with a thick mop of blondish hair, at Balmoral back in 1997
A tousled-haired William at Beaufort Polo Club in 2002, showing the first signs of a receding hairline
The prince on a return trip to Canada in 2011, this time with his wife… and less hair
He was top of Tatler’s ‘Little Black Book’s’ list of 200 men and women, with his ‘heartthrob looks and charming manners,’ the Mail reported at the time.
However, William’s hairline has changed drastically since.
Royal author Tina Brown wrote in her book, The Palace Papers: Inside The House Of Windsor, The Truth And The Turmoil, how shortly before he briefly split with Kate in 2007, ‘It did not need to be pointed out to William (though the press did) that he was fast losing his cool factor as well as his hair and turning into his dad.’
During the early years of fatherhood, William began to sport a combover as his hair thinned.
His brother, Harry, recalled the moment he looked at William and noticed ‘his alarming baldness’, in his memoir, Spare. Harry went on to describe how William’s hair loss was ‘more advanced than my own’.
The Prince of Wales has noticed his balding himself and occasionally mentions it light-heartedly. During a speech at an Earthshot Prize event in Singapore in 2023, William joked how he ‘had hair when it [the initiative] started’.
He even told a hairstylist back in 2017, ‘I don’t have much hair. I can’t give you much business.’
However, the future king had a defining cut in 2018, when he reportedly paid £180 – though this was denied by Kensington Palace – to have a buzz cut.
The prince doing his best to hide his bald spot with a combover at an event in 2015
William in Liverpool in 2017 finding it harder to disguise his hair loss
The prince embraces his baldness with a flattering new buzz cut in 2018
This year, the Prince of Wales sports a beard speckled with grey. He achieved a near-perfect score when ranked with some of the world’s most famous bald, based on the shininess of his scalp, his smile and facial proportions
William was said to have received advice from Kate’s hairdresser, Richard Ward, and later decided to get the number one buzz cut.
Joey Wheeler, who has worked with Mr Ward for 11 years, was understood to have trimmed the prince’s hair at his royal residence.
Since then, William seems to be embracing his hair loss and has even grown a beard.
But his receding hairline has not affected his ranking on lists of hot men. The heir to the throne was recently crowned the Sexiest Bald Man for the second year in a row, ahead of Hollywood star Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, French football coach Thierry Henry and American actor Vin Diesel.
A study by PR agency Reboot Online ranked some of the world’s most famous bald men based on different factors, including how shiny their heads are, their facial golden ratio, height and smile – and the prince earned a near-perfect score.
William achieved a near-perfect 9.9 out of 10 points – based on the shininess of his scalp, his smile and facial proportions.
The research also tracked media perception and ‘sexy’ global search interest, with William’s recent appearances in South Africa for the Earthshot initiative likely to have sent fan queries about him soaring.
William previously scored the number-one title back in 2021, though he slipped to second place in 2022, andthen reclaimed the crown in 2023. This year’s title marks the future king’s third time at the top.