I’m pleased to welcome New Zealand reader Sandra to Royal Hats today. Sandra is going to guide our look at a series of royal hats we don’t spend much time discussing. Welcome, Sanrda!
Sometimes Royals have to be as practical as us ordinary folk when it comes to their attire in certain weathers – although, naturally, their ensembles are “fit for a Queen”. There are many times when Royals don, for instance, hard hats or sporting hats. Those are not the focus here, this is all about dressing for the elements while still managing to be stylish.
The Scandinavian Royals understand the cold, just look at these magnificent furs from King Harald’s 70th birthday in February, 2007 – Queen Sonja and Prince Henrik of Denmark on a joyous, snow-filled ride near Oslo.
Princess Madeleine (left) and Crown Princess Mette Marit. Crown Princess Victoria, for some reason, was bare-headed (I love her expression in the photo, almost as if she’s just realised how cold it is).
Queen Silvia is the perfect Nordic snow queen (and toasty warm).
When a brolly just isn’t enough … practical wet weather gear for Queen Maxima at Queen Sonja’s 70th birthday in July, 2007 and birthday girl Queen Sonja was a picture in an all-white ensemble on her rainy day.
Embed from Getty Images Embed from Getty Images
But the best – and I have no doubt she will always retain this title – wet weather ensemble comes from the artistic and effervescent Queen Margarethe.
Pictured below at Queen Sonja’s 70th birthday (at a summer event where seems like some of the royals had packed for any eventuality!), there’s a story behind this cheery raincoat. According to a great post about the outfit at the Royal Order of Sartorial Splendour, Queen Margrethe purchased the wax cloth fabric in London on one of her annual shopping forays there. Jørgen Bender, responsible for several royal wedding and gala gowns, made the raincoat, which Margarethe helped design, in 1995. The coat and hat featured in a 2015 exhibition of Margrethe’s wardrobe to mark her 75th birthday.
The heat requires certain precautions too and Queen Noor of Jordan chose a simple, but stylish straw hat during a visit to St Tropez, France in July, 1983. She’s pictured with her infant daughter, Princess Iman bint Al Hussein.
Princess Anne has been photographed many times wearing sunhats while attending horse trials and the like. However, she has had a ‘working’ stylish sunhat or two, this one is from a visit to Kenya in 1971. She’s chatting to Jomo Kenyatta, the first president of the country which gained independence from Britain in 1963.
Full points to Queen Maxima who protects her face with a large hat, keeps her eyes sun safe, stays hydrated – and looks gorgeous – during a 2018 visit to the Caribbean island of Curacao. (SunSafe motto: Slip, slop, slap and wrap – slip on a shirt/into the shade, slop on sunblock, slap on a hat and wrap on sunglasses.)
Oddly, Crown Princess Mary isn’t often pictured wearing hats in her native Australia, despite the sun’s stronger effects there. This large hat was worn in November, 2011. The occasion was the awards ceremony for Sculpture by the Sea in New South Wales (they’re pictured with a piece in the third photo in the sequence below).
Pictured at a children’s swim event in Monaco in 1964, Princess Grace keeps the sun off with a lovely straw hat. Sitting in front of her, enjoying lollipops are Prince Albert, 6, and Princess Caroline, 7 (in an intriguing swim hat). Princess Grace had just announced she would be having a third child in 1965.
Forty-seven years later, Princess Caroline chose a sensible and stylish hat for the religious ceremony when Prince Albert married in 2011. Guests were seated in an outdoor courtyard at the Grimaldi Palace.
I look forward to seeing other marvelous examples of stylish “weather dressing” unearthed by Royal Hats readers!
Sun, rain and snow hats are usually left for our weekly end-of-week “Extra’s” posts and it’s fun to bring them out for full review and admiration here! Thank you so much, Sandra! I particularly love your description of Queen Margrethe and her fashion as ‘effervescent’.
Photos from Getty as indicated
to the early 1980s and this blue cloche with darling butterfly trim. While we see LOTS of feathers and flowers trimming royal millinery, there are surprisingly few butterflies.
