Monthly Archives: May 2013

King and Queen of the Netherlands Celebrate Remembrance Day

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The new King and Queen of the Netherlands conducted their first official engagement today in Amsterdam. For their attendance at this Remembrance Day ceremony in Dam Square, Máxima wore a new black straw cloche with a slightly elongated crown, mushroom brim and large black silk rose.

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Designed by South African milliner Bettina Thomas, the smaller scale hat packs a lot of punch, balancing just the right amount of queenly glamour with restraint fitting for this solemn occasion. 

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What did you think of Máxima’s first hat appearance as queen?

Photos from Getty as indicated

Danish Royals Begin Summer Cruise Season

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Each summer, Queen Margrethe and  Prince Henrik of Denmark embark on an extended summer tour aboard the royal yacht, Dannebrog. This afternoon, they kicked off the first leg of the 2013 summer cruise, setting sail from Copenhagen. Margrethe must have been excited about this event because she broke out a new hat.  As I mentioned earlier this week, Margrethe’s hats usually have a wacky bit of embellishment – this tomato red cloche had a giant red buckle. I could grow to like the shape of this hat (an interesting chimney with the pop-up domed top) on Margrethe but it’s ruined for me by that buckle.

Photos from Abaca

The Queen and Prince Philip Visit Hadley Court

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Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip visited the defence medical rehabilitation centre at Headley Court in Surrey today to open new unit for recovering injured servicemen. The Queen wore a white Rachel Trevor Morgan hat she first wore for her and Philip’s diamond wedding anniversary in 2007. This hat, with a curved brim and wispy feather trim must be one of her favourites because we’ve seen her wear it hat numerous times in the past six years. It’s one of my favourites on her, too. What do you think?

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Photos from Getty as indicated

Japanese Royals Mark Anniversary of Peace Treaty

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The other major royal hat we missed during coverage of the Dutch Inauguration was Sunday, April 28, when Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko attended a ceremony in Tokyo marking the anniversary of the San Francisco Peace Treaty signed in 1952. The Empress chose one of her characteristic small saucer hats, this one in white with a grey and white striped bow (Michiko also wore this hat in November 2009 for Akihito’s 20th anniversary of accession to the throne) . The choice of a white hat and dress to celebrate a peace treaty was certainly appropriate and I liked this hat more than I like many of her other ones. Michiko’s hats are often very small or look like flat plates on her head. but I thought shape and scale of this one was better suited to her. What do you think?

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Photos from AFP and AFP via Getty

Princess Benedikte Goes To School

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In all the activity surrounding the Dutch Inauguration, I have a few hats to catch up on. Last Wednesday, April 24,  Princess Benedikte of Denmark visited at the Copenhagen International School (CIS) to celebrate the institution’s 50th anniversary. For this visit, where she visited classrooms and attended a music recital, she wore the loveliest straw picture hat in raspberry pink. Didn’t she look marvelous?

Photos from Kongehuset.dk