Nowadays, you’re more likely to spot luxuriant facial hair on hipsters than royalty. Yet in the past, beards – or their absence – have been viewed as signs of power, masculinity, strength and even godliness. Here are 15 cool things we learned from a recent Proms Interval Talk on the politics of shaving.

1. The height of British political beardery was in the mid-19th century, when nearly all MPs had beards, moustaches or other whiskers. Back then, looking neat was seen as a sign of effeminacy.

2. Just 100 years before, however, being clean-shaven was seen as the height of manly sophistication. The only politician of note to have any facial hair at all in the mid-18th century was the Whig MP Charles James Fox, who was described by his own father as resembling a monkey.

3. One of the reasons facial hair became so popular in Victorian times was the Crimean War. Large numbers of soldiers returned home in the mid-19th century with the moustaches and beards they’d grown to keep out the cold. The Raglan Moustache is a prime example of a “hero beard” of this era.