Wilhelm II, the last Emperor of Germany, was a man who sported facial hair for the vast majority of his adult life. This digital representation of a composite photograph features Willy and his army buddies (and currently resides with the United States Library of Congress). Notice that Wilhelm's disfigured and shrunken left arm is not pictured.After the defeat of Germany and her allies at the conclusion of what we now refer to as World War I, Wilhelm II ("Willy Deuce" to his friends) lost access to his court barber, along with the whole court. As a result of this loss, he cultivated a beard while in exile in the Netherlands. His was perhaps one of the more infamous examples of the "beards-in-exile" phenomenon and may account in no small part for the decline of facial hair in men's fashion in the Western World.
There is of course another German leader whose moustache will forever live in on in infamy. Hitler, while not exactly an emperor, didn't do any favors for his personal interpretation of the moustache, or for the moustache in general. Here is a digital representation of a (pre-moustache) picture of little Adolph for your viewing (dis)pleasure:
And here is the real story on the little fella.-The Pogonologist
No comments:
Post a Comment