The extended British Royal Family appeared on the balcony of Buckingham Palace today for Trooping the Colour (check here for a review of hats worn by the Queen’s immediate family). This is quite a fine, hatted bunch, isn’t it?!
To the right of Princess Beatrice below are members of the Kent family: Lady Amelia Windsor in an peach fedora crowned hat with cream and apricot patterned straw brim; the Duchess of Kent in a white pillbox percher trimmed with purple roses and a white tulle veil; Lady Helen Taylor in a grey bandeau headpiece with leafy antlers (for lack of a better descriptor) by Stephen Jones; Lady Marina Windsor in a Yvette Jelfs designed wide brim sidesweeping ‘slice’ hat in white straw with large flower below the raised side of the brim. Lady Helen’s two daughters, Eloise and Estella, wore sweet hair bows.
The Countess of St. Andrews topped her neon green lace frock and navy jacket with a navy straw percher hat trimmed with a large crin ruffle and feathers.
In the photo below from left to right: The Countess of Ulster in a small turquoise blue button percher with quill trim (the “Nicolette” design from Bundle MacLaren); Lady Nicholas Windsor in a cream lacy fascinator trimmed with a peach quill and large silk rose; Zenouska Mowatt in a black straw sweeping saucer with pointed end trimmed with feathers by Jane Taylor (Zenouska shared a fun selfie of his hat on Twitter)
Princess Michael of Kent wore an oversized white pillbox.
Lady Gabriella Windsor wore one of my favourite hats of the day- a palest blue-grey picture hat with diagonal, upturned brim and large side looped bow by Philip Treacy. Stunning.
Embed from Getty Images
Embed from Getty Images
Embed from Getty Images
We will see a few more British Royal hats on Monday at the Order of the Garter service and then we have the hat event of the year, Royal Ascot!
Royal Hats 
The Duchess of Cambridge has some competition here! My favorites are: the Duchess of Kent’s large white pill box hat (Jackie O wore this size too) matching her white ensemble gave a 60’s feel; Lady Helen Taylor’s 40’s vintage ensemble with matching whisper grey hat with straw plume-like ribbons – truly a revelation; Amelia’s orange hat, royal blue jacket and orange dress, a snappy outfit; Princess Eugenie in a darling eclectic feminine light grey coat contrasting with black bows at the hip and a black bow on the stand-up collar, simple black straw hat worn on the back of her head with feather-light straw bows, gives a turn of the century feel; Lady Nicholas Windsor’s jaunty tilted small whisper pink airy disk of a straw hat and matching school girl round collar lace jacket had the effect of a delicate bon bon; Zanouska Mowatt’s black sculptured hat worn with a red draped dress, very simple yet dramatic; the Countess of Ulster with her navy sheath and jaunty turquoise hat with navy accent lent a 40’s vintage feel; the Duchess of Cambridge in a light pink simple peter pan color coatdress with a matching straw wide brimmed, low crown hat worn at a jaunty angle, the look is light and airy.
Just a note; Prince Michael of Kent looks sharp in his beige waist coat and blue tie worn with a wide collar white shirt. Same for the gentleman with the blue waist coat, red and white polka dot tie worn with a white shirt.
I have thoroughly enjoyed your interesting blog and commenting, thank you.
I would like to add the lime green lacy dress contrasting with the navy jacket with matching straw hat worn by the Countess of St. Andrews was lovely with her dark coloring. The only recommendation I would make would be to scale down the hat so it doesn’t overpower her outfit.
All these women look lovely in their clothes. I have found it is difficult to always hit the mark perfectly if you are dressing yourself especially when adding a hat and often a second opinion, ideally an artful one, is extremely helpful, and can view your outfit from all angles.
I would like to note Lady Louise Windsor’s pink military double breasted coat with puffed sleeves that matches her mother’s pink suit is a wonderful design and she looks darling in the coat.
You’re right, Lady Gabriella’s hat is lovely, as is Zenouska’s. The Duchess of Kent is a bit washed out by the colour of her outift – I thought the same with her garb for the Coronation anniversary service. The Countess of Ulster’s little hat is very nice in itself, but somehow contributes to too much roundness on that rounded hairstyle, I think, although it may just be the angle of the photo. I was going to say that I appreciated the exuberance of Lady Helen’s structure, but actually, looking at the group photo, it just shows up as too weird from a distance, so maybe not! I haven’t seen a close-up of the Duchess of Gloucester’s hat (far right in the group photo) but I really like the contrast of her colour scheme, one of the most interesting of the day.
I’m with you HatQueen, now that I have seen Lady Gabriella Windsor’s ensemble. Her hat is beautiful and when taken together with her suit – just perfection. Far and away the best of the day.
WOW. WOW. WOW. I am seriously in love with that hat. She looks amazing!
Kudos to her for wearing a beautiful, stylish broad-brimmed hat that can actually be called a hat!
I really like that white pillbox hat. Who is Marie-Christine?
Princess Michael of Kent (the lady in the white pillbox) has the first name Marie-Christine. Princess Michael of Kent is her title.
it looks like a giant marshmallow
Is the hat worn by Zenouska Mowatt not closer in style to the Lady A, also designed by Jane Taylor, style as worn by the Countess of Wessex to the Royal Wedding in Luxembourg?
You may be right. It looks like there is a flourish of something behind the top corner of the brim which is what made me think it might be closer to the Florence design. On the closeup photo that Zenouska posted on Twitter, there does not look like any feathers on this hat and the shape seems a little softer than the “Lady A”. We’ll have to wait for confirmation next week!