1954 Australian Tour: Mt. Gambier & Melbourne

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Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh continued their tour of Australian on February 26, 1954, flying to Hamilton from Melbourne for a day trip there which included a jaunt to the South Australian town of Mt. Gambier.

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The Queen repeated the blue silk shantung coat earlier  worn in Wollongong on February 11 with matching braided blue straw calot. The hat’s cuffed brim was studded with small blue silk flowers and the hat was trimmed with a veil and black bow at the back.

 

One spectator in Mt. Gambier drew particularly attention: 18-year-old Shirley Weston, known  as the Australian ‘snake girl’ who was there on behalf on the South Australian Showmen’s Guild. The Sydney Morning Herald reported that  Prince Philip nearly fell out of the Royal car when he saw Shirley standing by the roadside, draped with an 8-foot python and 6-foot carpet snake. It’s widely understood that the Queen and Duke both adore unexpected surprises on royal engagements and I can only imagine they were long delighted by their encounter with young Shirley!

On Saturday, February 27, attended Flemington Races and the Australia vs. South Africa tennis match at the Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club. Her denim blue silk dress and coat was topped with a matching calot hat rimmed in overlapping blue leaves. Notice the sparkling diamond wattle brooch, gifted to earlier this tour, on her lapel.

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On Sunday, February 28, the royal couple attended Divine Service at St Paul’s Cathedral followed by . The Queen wore a floral dress, muted green coat and a white calot hat covered in ruffles.

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Images from Getty social media as indicated

1954 Australian Tour: Tasmania & Melbourne

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On Tuesday, February 23, 1954, Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh left Hobart for Northern Tasmania. Landing in Wynyard, they embarked on a whistle stop tour of Northern towns Burnie, Penguin, Ulverstone, Devonport, Letrobe, Deloraine, Westbury and Longford before stopping in Cressy for the night. For this full day, the Queen wore a sky blue tailored suit and striped blue and white collarless blouse. The lapels of the belted peplum jacket were in the same striped fabric as the blouse, on the bias; the Queen finished the crisp ensemble with a white calot hat with folded back bonnet brim and a waved pleat on the side.

On Wednesday, February 23, 1954, the royal couple spent the morning on Launceston before flying to Melbourne for a series of welcome events that afternoon. The Queen wore a pale gold silk dress dotted with small black spots and matching coat with black buttons and velvet collar (see a better view here, taken in January 1954 in New Zealand). The ensemble was finished with black accessories including a black straw hat with small rounded crown and visor style brim trimmed with a black velvet slim hatband and side bow and a black veil.

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After opening Victoria’s parliament on Thursday, February 25, the royal couple attended a massive gathering of ex-service men and women and war widows at Melbourne Cricket Ground. Queen Elizabeth wore an casque design of individually made, overlapping leaves (or petals?) trimmed with a net veil.

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Images from Getty and social media as indicated

Favourite New Royal Hat of 2020

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I’ll skip the introduction and get right to the reveal- here are your top five Favourite New Royal Hats of 2020:

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Duchess of Cambridge’s blue felt Hicks and Brown fedora with pheasant feather hatband worn Jan 5

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Duchess of Cambridge’s red felt saucer with flowers and oxblood bow by Sally Ann Provan worn March 10

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Duchess of Sussex’s green teardrop beret with net veil wrap and bow by William Chambers worn March 10

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Zara Tindall’s claret felt curved percher with cutout bow and arrow feathers by Juliette Botterill worn March 11

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Queen Máxima’s cream, tan and black striped straw saucer by Bettina Thomas worn Sep 16 

This poll was also a tight race for its runners up (again, just 100 votes separate these top five)- jump over to this post to see the final results in detail. 
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Favourite Repeated Royal Hat of 2020

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The race for Favourite Repeated Royal Hat of 2020 was a very close one with barely 100 votes separating the top five. The four runners up are:

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Queen Elizabeth’s pink felt hat with layered hatbands and silk flowers by Rachel Trevor Morgan worn October 15

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The Duchess of Cornwall’s black felt Philip Treacy percher with crin twist and silk rose worn Nov 8
Queen Elizabeth’s oxblood hat with cherry blossoms by Angela Kelly (made by Stella McLaren) worn Feb 25
The Countess of Wessex’s navy felt Jane Taylor pillbox with dotted veil worn November 11

 

Princess Anne’s turquoise felt fedora with double hatband and feathers by Amy Morris-Adams worn Feb 29

Photos from Getty and social media as indicated

1954 Australian Tour: Hobart

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On Saturday, February 20, 1954, Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh arrived in Hobart, Tasmania.

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For their arrival, the queen wore a pale silver silk dress and tailored coat, topped with a silver and black pinstripe silk folded brimless hat trimmed with a curled black feather on the side.

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On Sunday February 21, the couple attended Divine Service at St. David’s Cathedral then laid a wreath of remembrance at the Queen’s Domain war memorial. For these events, the Queen repeated a green printed dress topped with a green blazer and matching silk draped calot hat. You can see coloured photos of this ensemble, taken on its previous outing on January 19, 1954 in Christchurch New Zealand, here and here.

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On the morning of Monday, February 22, Her Majesty opened Tasmanian parliament.

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That afternoon, she and the Duke attended a Garden Party (also attended by over 4000 guests!) in the grounds of Government House. For this last event in Hobart, Queen Elizabeth repeated the silk suit she had worn on February 14 to church in Canberra, topped this time with a pale calot. I suspect the hat was the same calot with coiled pyramid side trim that she wore in Newcastle on February 9.

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Images from Getty social media as indicated