Monthly Archives: May 2013

British Royals Attend State Opening of Parliament

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Queen Elizabeth, Prince Philip, Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall attended the State Opening of Parliament in London today. The Queen arrived wearing the George IV Diadem (as she does each year). The royal world was abuzz yesterday when Buckingham Palace announced the Queen will be scaling back her duties (she’s sending Prince Charles in her place to the Commonwealth meeting in Sri Lanka later this year, the first time she’s missed one of these meetings in 40 years) but she looked as spry and as regal as ever today. The George IV Diadem always looks so wonderful on her.

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For the ceremony, the Queen wore the Imperial State Crown. I think it’s still the best piece of royal headgear in existence. Period.

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The big news was that this was Camilla’s first time attending the State Opening of Parliament. She looked beautiful in what is becoming her ‘standard’ tiara, the Greville tiara (sometimes known as the Boucheron Honeycomb tiara. You can read an excellent history of this tiara here). Camilla’s hair gets a lot of criticism but it’s great hair for a tiara or a hat. I thought she looked very royal as well.

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Photos from Getty as indicated

Hats from the Past

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Sixty-eight years ago today, the British Royal Family appeared with Sir Winston Churchill on the balcony of Buckingham Palace to celebrate V-E Day.

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 Fifty years later (eighteen years ago today), Queen Elizabeth, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret recreated that balcony scene. Much can be said about these iconic moments in British history. I’m just fascinated by how little the Queen Mum’s hat changed during those 50 years.

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Photos from Getty as indicated

Queen Margrethe Celebrates Kierkegaard

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Queen Margrethe of Denmark attended a service at the Church of Our Lady in Copenhagen yesterday commemorating  Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard’s 200th birthday. For this engagement, she wore a turquoise hat with a mushroom shaped brim and a smart two-toned blue ribbon around the crown.  Margrethe has previously worn this hat to host the Chinese President in June 2012, and on visits to the UK and to Russia in 2011. It’s had a lot of wear for good reason- it’s a classic shape in one of the vibrant colours she favours and it looks very good on Margrethe.

Update- I mistook this hat (and it’s multiple wearings) to be the same as the blue hat Margrethe wore here today even though they are clearly different. Thanks to reader LouisaMay for pointing out the error!

Photo from Corbis

Luxembourg Royals Join Octave Procession

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Members of the Luxembourg Royal family took part in the closing procession of the Octave of Our Lady of Luxembourg (a two week annual religious celebration) yesterday. For this event, Grand Duchess Maria Teresa wore a black and white picture hat by Fabienne Delvigne that I thought looked lovely…. until I caught site of the open top (it’s not visible here but the top of this hat was completely open). Nice try but open topped hats? Not a good idea.

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Princess Stéphanie wore a navy straw hat complete with diagonal raised brim and large navy bow on the side opposite the raised brim. While it was a much better hat than the one she wore last week at the Dutch Inauguration, I’m not a fan of this one. Something about the crown and brim proportions and shape are off. Plus, the bow is awfully twee and the high side of the brim is not raised in a smooth upsweep- from the front the brim looks wavy and unrefined. Maybe the hat was bought off the peg?

UPDATE- The hat was a ready-to-wear item from Armani’s Spring/Summer 2012 collection.

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Photos from Manuel Dias via Le Cour Grand-Ducale de Luxembourg

Youngest British Royals at the Badminton Horse Trials

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Just a day after her birthday, Autumn Phillips, her husband Peter and two young daughters were spotted cheering for Zara Phillips at the third day of the Badminton Horse Trials. One year old Isla was a little ray of sunshine in a pink knitted hat topping off a wide grin. Little Savannah, who is two-and-a-half, was a more serious cheerleader in an adorable puppy dog cable knit hat. I think we have some serious royal hat wearers in the making!

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Photos from Getty as indicated