Kate Middleton, Prince William trigger new war with Prince Harry

Prince William and Kate Middleton's latest video has delighted fans, but it seems to be a strong message to Prince Harry.

The Prince of Wales has triggered a fiery debate with his new look, with  a source close to the future King also claiming William's new beard is the latest instalment in a conflict with his younger brother Harry.

King Charles III's eldest son appeared in a video alongside his cancer-stricken wife Kate Middleton to congratulate Team GB on their achievements at the Paris Olympics.

In the much-talked video, that also featured rapper Snoop Dogg and football legend David Beckham, the royal couple said: "From all of us watching at home, congratulations to Team GB. Well done on all you've achieved - you've been an inspiration to us all."

However, a source told The Daily Beast: "It was a slight surprise to see William do a public video with the beard. It’s an unexpected new instalment of the beard wars."

The 'beard wars' refers to an argument centred around the Duke's beard that he grew in the tense run-up to Harry's wedding to Meghan Markle.

Harry, in his memoir Spare, said he first ­­grew his beard while on an expedition in the South Pole and had come to rely on it as a "Freudian security blanket," adding that it made him feel "calmer." 

The father-of-two then claimed that he asked Queen Elizabeth II if he could keep it for his wedding. He claimed that, while his grandmother was reportedly not overly keen on beards, she "understood."

 However, when he told his brother, Prince William "bristled" and said it was inconsistent with military rules, relevant as he was getting married in uniform, and precedent.

Harry penned: "When I informed [Prince William] that his opinion didn’t really matter, since I’d already gone to Granny and got the green light, he became livid. He raised his voice."

William accused Harry of putting their grandmother "in an uncomfortable position," saying she had "no choice but to say yes." 

The Duke claimed the argument "went on, in person, on the phone, for more than a week." It came to a head when Harry said: "he actually ordered me, as the Heir speaking to the Spare, to shave."

One source, a former courtier who worked in the palace at the time of Harry and Meghan’s wedding, told the same outlet: "What the courtiers got so annoyed about with Harry is that over and over again he approached his grandmother personally to get special treatment and then he would turn around and say, ‘Well, Granny said so, so there.’"

According to Harry, the reason for the conflict over the beard was that William had come back from one assignment with the special forces "sporting a full beard, and somebody told him to be a good boy, run along and shave it. He hated the idea of me enjoying a perk he’d been denied."

"The point about the beard at the wedding is that serving members of the armed forces were not allowed to wear beards at that time, said a military source.

"It’s a rule that goes back to gas masks. They wouldn’t seal properly on the face if you were not clean shaven. He went to granny and got special permission. William was completely right," they added.