Duchess Of Cornwall Celebrates National Volunteering

The Duchess of Cornwall joined 1,800 volunteers and supporters at a thanksgiving service at St Paul’s Cathedral to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Royal Voluntary Organisation yesterday. For this occasion, Camilla wore a smart  navy and cream picture hat with diagonal bands around the crown, side bow, tall feather and slightly raised brim on one side. This hat, designed by Philip Treacy, is another one of Camilla’s hats with a lot going on but she seems to carry it well. Her Bruce Oldfield designed coat compliments the hat well to create another ensemble. Camilla is on fire with great hat fashion these days, isn’t she?

For those of you interested in such things, Camilla has worn this hat numerous times. We last saw it on the Duchess in May 2009 for the 100th anniversary of Royal Navy Aviation; before that she wore it June 2007; July 2006; July 2005; June 200 and May 2005. I hope she wears it again because it’s an excellent hat on Camilla.

Photos from WENN via The Express

British Royals Host Palace Garden Party

Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, hosted the first summer garden party of the 2013 season at Buckingham Palace today. The Queen wore a soft pink straw hat with a tall crown and small mushroom brim that I believe is new. There was a large band of pink tweed, the same fabric as her coat, wrapped around the crown. The hat brim and the coat were trimmed in wide pink silk piping.

Prince Philip wore a very dashing dove grey top hat. With his grey waistcoat and royal blue tie, I thought he looked quite handsome.

The Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and the Duchess of Cambridge also attended. Camilla wore a dove grey picture hat with massive feather plume designed by Philip Treacy. While this is the first time we’ve seen this hat here on the blog, Camilla first debuted it in June 2006 and (if I’m counting correctly), wore it for the tenth time today (here are the other eight: June 2012; September 2011;  May 2011; July 2009; July 2009; May 2009; July 2008; and July 2006). It’s a LOT of hat that looks messy with every little gust of wind but Camilla clearly likes it. She wore it with a new coat today- by far the best outfit she’s worn with this hat. In the the second photo (without the hat waving around like a live creature)  I think she looks beautiful. (Prince Charles even got in on the hat action by carrying a black silk top hat. Very dapper, indeed).

  

Kate wore the same cream Jane Corbett hat  she wore for the Order of the Garter Service in June 2011 at St. George’s Chapel. This hat is a little too fussy for me and while I like the side profile, I don’t like this hat head-on (it’s too far down on Kate’s forehead).  Paired with Kate’s sunshine yellow Emilia Wickstead coat, I suppose the whole outfit came together. What do you think of this hat?

   

Photos from WPA Pool via Zimbio, The Daily Mail and WPA Pool via Getty

Princess Beatrix Opens Museum Exhibition

In her first public engagement since the inauguration and the enthronement of the new Dutch King and Queen, Princess Beatrix  visited the Villa Mondriaan in Winterswijk yesterday. She opened an exhibition of famed Dutch artist Pieter Cornelis Mondriaan, Jr. entitled, Where it All Started. For this visit, she wore the same red straw brimless hat she wore on a visit to Doha in March 2011. This particular hat has an interesting navy ring around the crown (see a better photo here from its first wearing). I’m not a great fan of these brimless hat “cakes” but it was so wonderful to see Beatrix looking her usual bright smiling self after her big transition this month that I’m not going to complain about this one.

Photos from Dutch Photo Press

Queen Máxima Visits Children’s Hospital

Queen Máxima of The Netherlands attended the 150th Anniversary Of Sophia Children’s Hospital today in Rotterdam. For this visit, Máxima repeated the red suit she wore to New York in 2009 but paired it with a tan ruched straw turban. While this hat is similar to other straw turbans Máxima has worn (this one in 2005, this one in 2007 and this one in 2009) this one appears to be slightly different and I strongly suspect it is new. Like the others, I also suspect this is a Fabienne Delvigne design. I find this hat interesting- it’s part turban and part pillbox. Without a large brim, it’s a great  hat for visiting children as there is no large brim to obstruct one-on-one interaction or eye contact. It has taken me years to warm up to these turbans and while I’m still not a big fan, I’m starting to see their function. Máxima certainly likes them, doesn’t she?! What do you think of this new hat?

  

 

Photos from Michel Porro via Zimbio and Dutch Photo Press

Hats, Hairnets and the Chelsea Flower Show

 The world famous Chelsea Flower Show has attracted thousands (millions?) of visitors over the 100 years it has been held. The British Royal Family are loyal supporters and attend every year. This year, Prince Harry entered a garden exhibition in support of his charity Sentebale – it was announced this morning that his ”Forget-Me-Not” garden won a silver medal. Queen Elizabeth has attended the show nearly every year and I thought it would be fun to look back at some of her hats.

The photo above shows the Queen without a hat (gasp!) at the flower show in 2010. That’s one of two very peculiar things about the Queen and the Chelsea Flower Show. She wears hats to nearly every other event but for some strange reason, she stopped wearing hats to this event after 1970.

Queen Elizabeth at the Chelsea Flower show in 1952, 1955, 1959, 1960 and 1970

The other peculiar think about the Queen and the Chelsea Flower Show is that In the early 1970s, she began wearing a hair net covered in black bows to this event. She doesn’t wear them to any other event- just this one! Some writers have speculated that she did this to protect her hair from unexpected gusts of wind on her outdoor walk through the exhibition gardens. Whatever the reason, it’s now a tradition to for her to either go bear headed or to wear a hairnet (except in  2006 when she sported a beautiful purple silk kerchief). Last year, Elizabeth replaced the bow hairnet with one covered in black blossoms.

Queen Elizabeth at the Chelsea Flower show in 1973, 1974, 1975 and 1977

 

Queen Elizabeth at the Chelsea Flower show in 1981, 1987 and 1993

Queen Elizabeth at the Chelsea Flower show in 1996, 2006, 2011 and 2012

This is one of the very rare occasions when I would recommend going bare headed (as Queen Elizabeth did this year). I’m just not a fan of queen wearing hairnets in public. What do you think of this interesting millinery choice?

Photos from The Daily Mirror; The Daily Mail;  Friends United; John Downing,  Tim Graham, and Mark Cuthbert via Getty; and WPA Pool via Zimbio 

Hat Designer Updates

Here are two more hat designer confirmations for you today:

The blush pink saucer beret Princess Eugenie wore to attend Easter Sunday Services at St. Georges chapel was designed by British millinery designer Sarah Cant. From these at these photos and some similar designs on Sarah Cant’s website, it seems this is a straw saucer beret embellished by fabric or foil covered petals.

The new hat worn by the Duchess of Cambridge at the wedding of William van Cutsem and Rosie Ruck Keene last weekend is from  Madeleine Millinery’s Spring 2013 Collection. It’s a variation on the  ”Whirlaway Feather” hat with all black feathers instead of black and white. The Press Page at Madeline Millinery shows a previous design Kate wore during her engagement as well as several hats worn by Kate’s sister Pippa.

      

Photos from The Daily Mail via Sarah Cant, The Daily Express and Madeleine Millinery

Swedish Royal Wedding Banns Read

Banns for their marriage of Princess Madeleine of Sweden and Christopher O’Neill were published this morning in the Royal Chapel of the Royal Palace in Stockholm. After the service, guests attended a reception at the Royal Palace. Princess Madeleine wore a green satin dress with matching hair bow designed by Pär Engsheden (who designed Crown Princess Victoria’s spectacular wedding dress three years ago). I thought the hair bow was far too juvenile and cutesey for a royal bride and didn’t like it at all.

Queen Silvia looked very elegant in a pistachio green pillbox… or so I thought. Belgian hat designer Fabienne Delvigne (who I suspect made this hat) must be trying to start a convertible hat craze because this is the second European monarch this month to wear an open topped hat (see the Grand Duchess Maria Teresa of Luxembourg here). I love everything about this hat on Silvia except the open top. That makes it look like a pistachio doughnut.

Crown Princess Victoria was very pretty in pale pink with a large fascinator pinned around her chignon. I like the fascinator well enough but think it would look much better with less severe hair.

Chris’ mother Evan O’Neill wore an embellished fez-shaped hat. I think she was trying to look glamorous in this hat but it looked awkward and unattractive to me. She looks more like she’s attending a Shriner’s meeting than the banns for a royal wedding.

The group photo included Chris’ sister Tatjana D’Abo (thanks to reader Jelsta for confirming her identity!). Tatjana wore what looks like a large white cloche with huge cabbage rose (she lives in England so perhaps it is a Philip Treacy design similar to the one the Countess of Wessex wore several years ago?). I thought it was one of the best hats today and I’m afraid, that’s not saying much. Hopefully, there will be more impressive headgear when tiaras come out for the wedding on June 8.

This week, it was announced that the groom respectfully declined a  royal title as he plans to continue his career as an investment consultant in New York. It appears that the couple will have a non-royal life in New York. I suspect, sadly, there will be very few occasions in future where we will see Princess Madeline wear a hat.

**NOTE** several comments about Sofia Hellqvist’s attendance at this event not been approved. Further comments along this topic will also not be approved (consider yourself warned Olivia R.) There’s plenty of other forums and blogs out there where you can discuss this young woman and her relationship with the Royal Family. For the record- all name calling and debate about who should or should not be included in royal events is not welcome here. Let’s keep it to hat love, people!

Photos from Lehtikuva; Aftonbladet; and Expressen