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Home / Lifestyle

William or Harry? Science reveals most handsome prince

By Martha Cliff
Daily Mail·
17 Apr, 2018 10:22 PM4 mins to read

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Which brother took out the title of Britain's most handsome male royal? Photo / Getty Images

Which brother took out the title of Britain's most handsome male royal? Photo / Getty Images

Prince Harry has beaten his older brother William to be crowned Britain's most handsome young male royal.

Scientific research pioneered by the ancient Greeks found the face of the groom-to-be to be 81.4 per cent 'accurate.'

Harry's eyes, eyebrows, nose, lips, chin, jaw and facial shape came closest to the Greeks' idea of perfection under the Golden Ratio of Beauty Phi which measures physical perfection.

Prince Harry has been crowned Britain's most attractive male royal thanks to his "perfect facial symmetry". Photo / Getty Images
Prince Harry has been crowned Britain's most attractive male royal thanks to his "perfect facial symmetry". Photo / Getty Images

The Duke of Cambridge, 35, was narrowly beaten into second place by 33-year-old Harry with a rating of 80.9 per cent.

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Peter Phillips, 40, was third with 80.4 per cent and Zara Phillips' husband, ex-England rugby star Mike Tindall, 39, was fourth with 76.7 per cent.

READ MORE: • Meghan or Catherine: Who is more beautiful according to science?

All the younger generation of male royals were tested with the latest facial mapping techniques by Harley Street surgeon Dr Julian De Silva who uses the technology in his work.

William was let down by his longer face. Photo / Getty Images
William was let down by his longer face. Photo / Getty Images

The table was compiled ahead of two royal celebrations this year - Prince Harry and Meghan's wedding is on May 19 and the Duchess of Cambridge's third baby is due in the next few weeks.

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Dr De Silva, who runs the Centre For Advanced Facial Cosmetic & Plastic Surgery in London, said: "Which of Princess Diana's sons is the most handsome has been a subject of debate for a number of years.

"Now science has provided the answer - Prince Harry is a very narrow winner in a close contest which reveals that both men are incredibly handsome.

"Prince Harry has striking facial symmetry and gets closer than all the other royal men to having what the ancient Greeks considered the perfect face.

"Harry scored particularly highly for the shape of his chin, the near-perfect length of his face, the gap between his nose and lips and his eye spacing.

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"Prince William gets a very high rating, too, and stands out for having easily the highest score for his nose and for his eye position.

"Princess Anne's son Peter Phillips also scores very highly and was only just behind in third. He got very high marks for perfectly equal gaps between his mouth, eyes and forehead.

Peter Phillips, 40, was third with 80.4 per cent. Photo / Getty Images
Peter Phillips, 40, was third with 80.4 per cent. Photo / Getty Images

"Mike Tindall was obviously marked down for his nose which has clearly been permanently misshaped by an old rugby injury. He scored 66.7 per cent for his nose width, compared to Prince William's top mark of 89 per cent."

Mike Tindall with his wife, Zara Phillips. Photo / Getty Images
Mike Tindall with his wife, Zara Phillips. Photo / Getty Images

'These brand new computer mapping techniques allow us to solve some of the mysteries of what it is that makes a man physically handsome, and the technology is useful when planning patients' surgery.

'The Phi ratio of 1.618 has long been thought to hold the secret of beauty, and now with the computer mapping we can calculate exactly how it applies to all the royal princes.'

READ MORE: • Spot the major difference in Meghan and Catherine's photos

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Prince Harry's 81.4 per cent score was a few points behind his fiancée Meghan Markle, 36, who had a rating of 87.4 per cent, narrowly ahead of the Duchess of Cambridge, 36, who scored 86.8 per cent.

That makes Harry and Meghan the best looking royal couple.

Meghan's face was deemed more beautiful that Catherine's. Photo / Getty Images
Meghan's face was deemed more beautiful that Catherine's. Photo / Getty Images

What is the golden ratio?

The golden ratio was a mathematical equation devised by the Greeks in an attempt to measure beauty.

While the ratio can by applied to anything, and was used by Leonardo Da Vinci for the the perfect human male body in his famous work the Virtruvian Man, it is also applied to the human face.

The premise behind this is that the closer the ratios of a face, body or room are to the number 1.62, the more beautiful it becomes.

Though it can seem complex these can be fairly simple equations to try on yourself.

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For example, the simplest measurement is the length of your face divided by the width of your face.

Width of lips divided by length and length of nose divided by width are other calculations you can try.

Twentieth-century artists and architects, including Le Corbusier and Dalí, have used the golden ratio. The golden ratio also appears in some patterns in nature, including the spiral arrangement of leaves and other plant parts.

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