The Duchess of Cambridge is known for her long brunette locks, with a bouncy blow-dry emulated by women across the country, but now she’s gone for the chop in the name of charity – donating seven inches of hair to the Little Princess Trust.
The charity, which was set up in 2006, makes wigs for children who have lost their hair during cancer-fighting chemotherapy or radiotherapy. The royal is believed to have asked her hairdresser to cut the length of hair during a recent appointment, with an aide picking it up and dropping it off at the charity headquarters.
The idea is thought to have come to her during a recent hair appointment at Kensington Palace, where a stylist called Joey from Richard Ward Salon regularly comes to cut her hair.
According to a source who spoke to the Daily Express: ‘Four months ago Joey persuaded her it was time to take off some of her hair; he said it was just getting too long. While Joey was snipping away the idea came to her of doing some good with it rather than throwing it away. She mentioned it to Joey, who thought it was a brilliant idea. It was sent using someone else's name, so that the trust didn't know it was from a royal source – they just thought it was from a female donor in the Kensington area.
‘It's lovely to think somewhere a little girl is happily wearing a wig made from a real princess's hair,’ the source added. ‘It's a very heartwarming thing for Kate to have done, and very thoughtful to use hair that would have otherwise just been thrown away.’
In 2016, Harry Styles made headlines when he cut off his signature long locks and donated them to the charity, racking up more than two million likes on Instagram for the post detailing what he had done.
A spokesperson for the charity said: ‘We are not aware of having any donation made by the Duchess of Cambridge, but if she had sent us some hair, she may have decided to make it anonymously, understandably after the attention given to the donation made by Harry Styles.'