With the British Army recently repealing the 100-year ban on beards, the first members of the King’s Guard to have the whiskers arrived on post this week, and personally, I think they look great.
Via the Welsh Guards:
Like it or lump it, the beards are here! Members of Number 2 Company proudly took up their posts on Kings Guard this morning, marching from Wellington Barracks to Buckingham Palace and St James’s Palace.
The new Army regulation says beard length must be between grade 1 (2.5mm) and grade 8 (25.5mm) and well-kept, which, sadly, means you won’t have a return to the days of the old “grenadier’s beards” of the 19th century.
British Colour Sergeant and Private of the Grenadier Guards 1855 Buckingham Palace 1853 enfield IWM Q 71602
1861 India Agra Black Watch 42nd Regiment Royal Highlanders with Enfields, P53 Alkazi Collection
CRIMEAN WAR 1854-56 (Q 71630) Charles Manners, William Webster and Henry Lemmen of the Grenadier Guards. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205018817
Joseph Numa, John Potter and James Deal, three soldiers of the Coldstream Guards. Crimean War, 1854-56