Prince Harry sported a growing bald patch as he launched the 2021 Rugby League World Cup on Thursday

Prince Harry launched the 2021 Rugby League World Cup at Buckingham Palace in what could have marked his last engagement as a senior royal on Thursday – but it wasn’t only the momentous occasion that garnered attention. 

The Duke of Sussex, 35, sported a rapidly increasing bald patch – a problem which has famously been known to impact his brother, Prince William.

And the red-headed royal may just regret the previous occasions in which he has ribbed his older sibling of his receding hairline – including in his best man speech.

Speaking to the BBC at the time, Harry provided a sneak preview of the content and joked: ‘It’s me and a couple of his friends, and between the three of us, we’ll make sure that we dig him in the ribs a few times and embarrass him.

 ‘And make him lose some hair.’ 

The Duke of Sussex has previously been known to mock brother Prince William for his receding hairline. Pictured, on Thursday

Prince William, who began losing his hair in his twenties, famously shaved his head in January 2018 in order to hide the worst impact of the hair loss.

But Harry has always loved mocking his brother for his hair loss, once quipping: ‘I think he definitely is brainier than I am, but we established that at school, along with his baldness.’ 

On another occasion, during a trip to Barbados, the Duke of Sussex discussed an official painting in which he claimed his brother was falsely portrayed with a bit more hair. 

‘I don’t know, I’m a little bit more ginger in there than I am in real life, I think,’ he quipped. ‘And [William] got given more hair. Apart from that, it is what it is. But no, it’s nice, it could’ve been worse.

And Prince William, who has endured years of jokes as a result of his thinning hair, has even been known to poke fun at himself.

When he became a proud father and shared Prince George to the world, he joked that the bald infant has got ‘way more hair than me, thank God!’ 

The red-headed reportedly teased brother Prince William in his best man speech. Pictured, Prince Harry’s thinning hair yesterday

Prince William started balding in his twenties, and famously shaved his head in an effort to counteract his hair loss. Pictured: Prince William chats to guests at a reception after delivering a speech to celebrate the national rollout of the ‘Step into Health’ programme, at Chandos House in London, Thursday, Jan. 18, 2018

Meanwhile, in September 2017, he attended a London coffee shop that had been set up by a homeless charity to help those who deal with addiction and homelessness get back on their feet.

He shook the hands of two hairdressers from the barbershop next door, before joking: ‘I don’t have much hair, I can’t give you much business.’

The father-of-three has also been the punchline for some of his wife, Kate Middleton’s jokes.

During their royal tour of Australia in April 2014, the couple watched shearing take place, before being shown alpaca wool that was coincidentally a very similar match to the duke’s hair.  

‘The prince was interested in the alpaca, and as I showed it to them, the princess said he should put it on his head,’ farmer, Lyn Crejan, from Glenn Innes in New South Wales,’ told reporters at the time. ‘She said, “You need it more than me,” and pointed to his head and he laughed.’ 

Baldness runs in the family: Prince Philip is also bald, while Prince Harry’s uncle, Prince Andrew, has also struggled with hair loss