Prince William Has a New, Equally Bearded Right-Hand Man

Prince William has a new right-hand man, and the first thing everyone's noticed is this person's impressive beard—which of course will match his new employer's.

Squadron Leader Mike Reynolds will serve as the Prince of Wales' new equerry, The Sun reports. As seen in pictures shared in 2020, Reynolds proudly sports his abundant facial hair.

But that's not the only thing the two men have in common: The new royal hire is a trained helicopter pilot just like William, who formerly served in the RAF Search and Rescue as well as the East Anglia Air Ambulance.

William's facial hair is a new development, which he first unveiled in a social media video posted in August to celebrate Team GB on their Olympics performance.

At the time, royal fans weren't shy about publicly thirsting for the royal facial hair, and were downright devastated when he shaved it off a couple of weeks later.

But! William knows about giving the people what they want, and the beard came back earlier this month. So far, it seems like it's sticking around.

As for what an equerry does exactly, The Sun describes the role as a sort of royal personal assistant. They are on call to help out the royals with both public and private duties, and stay in their role for three years, according to Metro.

As you may know from watching The Crown, Princess Anne's husband Sir Timothy Laurence was one of the late Queen's equerries, which is how he came to be in the princess' orbit in the first place.