Do you ever see a photo of yourself from years ago that takes you by surprise? Honestly, every time Facebook shows us a selfie we posted a decade ago, it’s like a jump scare. In our minds, it never seems like that much time has passed. But these photos are a reminder that we are very different people from day to day, and Father Time has transformed our bodies as well as our brains.
That’s the bad news. The good news is that it happens to everyone. Even the Royal Family! To take a walk down memory lane (and admittedly make ourselves feel better after seeing our older photos), we decided to check out what the most famous royals in the world looked like back in their 20s. Some of them looked more or less the same, but others looked completely different. Keep reading to discover who surprises you the most!
Long live the Queen
Most of this list is made up of those who are still active movers and shakers in the Royal Family. However, it only felt appropriate to begin with Queen Elizabeth, who is possibly the most beloved monarch the world has ever had. She soon became an icon, and everyone remembers how she looked in the last two decades or so…like a kindly grandmother that could still kick your butt if she had to.
In her 20s, however, Elizabeth was anything but grandmotherly. She was absolutely stunning in her youth and could likely have had a very successful career as a model or a movie star. But life had other plans, and she was coronated when she was only 25 years old. The rest, as they say, is royal history!
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Charles in charge
The thing about monarchy is that there aren’t any major surprises. Thanks to a strict hierarchy, you always know who is next in line for the throne. When Queen Elizabeth died, Charles became King, a position he has enjoyed for the last several years. While he’s not yet as iconic as his dear old mother, he has become one of the most famous faces in the world. That face is usually one of bemusement, like a village elder who just caught you doing something you were told not to do.
Like everyone else in the Royal Family, though, Charles looked quite different in his 20s. In the photo above, he is practically an action figure and looks like he belongs on a recruitment poster for the armed services to which he briefly belonged. He soon focused on royal matters rather than military matters, though, serving the family as a prince before being crowned at the ripe age of 73.
William, the college student
Prince William remains one of the most popular members of the Royal Family. It’s not hard to see why…he’s still relatively young and handsome, and he has a gorgeous family. Plus, William often seems to straddle the line between preserving royal traditions and encouraging changes, including the one that makes it easier for the first-born daughters of a reigning monarch to become Queen, like Elizabeth before them.
Obviously, William is next in line for the throne. But in his 20s, he was worried far more about academics than royal life. He was a good student at St. Andrews, dutifully studying geography, a favorite subject. However, he eventually found something much more exciting to focus on when he met Kate Middleton, a fellow student who later became his wife and the mother of his children.
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Kate, the coquette
Speaking of Kate, she has now become a famous face in her own right. As the beautiful and funny wife of William, she is a soft face of the Royal Family, one that people have come to love. Not as much as her husband, of course, whom she met when they were studying at St. Andrews. It’s fair to say that was one meeting that completely changed her life!
Needless to say, Kate was absolutely gorgeous in her 20s, and she turned heads all over campus. But she had something of a secret weapon when it came to turning the future King’s head. As the story goes, William didn’t truly fall for her until she wore a see-through dress to a fashion show. Now, isn’t that a far cry from the matronly woman who loves to wear modest blues wherever she goes?
Harry, the party prince
These days, Prince Harry has a reputation as something of a royal rebel. After all, he and his divorced American celebrity wife, Meghan Markle, infamously stepped down from most of their royal responsibilities and moved to America, having only recently moved back to England. While in the United States, they struck a number of deals with everyone from Spotify to Netflix. Because of this, Harry’s appearance as a gentle, bearded man with a perpetually bemused look is very well known.
The Harry of his 20s was far less recognizable…he had no beard and much thicker hair. He did have one shared quality, though: he was quite the rebel! Back then, he infamously partied hard and got into one crazy scandal (like wearing a swastika for a Halloween costume and losing all of his clothes while gaming in Las Vegas) after another. Fortunately, the modern Harry has mellowed out, as befits a married man and father of two!
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