Our look at the common hat shapes used by Angela Kelly in The Queen’s millinery wardrobe has taken us through tours of the “Flat Brim Hats” and the “Teardrop Crown Hats“. Today we’re going to look at an even more unusual shape, a shape I’m calling the “Diagonal Wrapped Crown”. Built on a classic cloche, the hat features a tall wrap around the round crown that lowers in a diagonal line:
Embed from Getty Images Embed from Getty Images
Visiting Hereford during her Diamond Jubilee Tour, July 11, 2012; Remembrance Day, November 2011
Embed from Getty Images Embed from Getty Images
Attending Ascot,June 19, 2010 and visiting Ireland on May 20, 2011
UPDATE- Queen Elizabeth has added another version of this design in canteloupe orange with the most wonderful floral and blue feather trim.
Day 3 of Royal Ascot, June 16, 2016
The first, third and last are made of straw (the first is wrapped in the same pink tweed as Queen Elizabeth’s coat) while the black one is felt (the white and grey polka dot is a mix of white straw for the cloche base and silk covered straw for the wrap). Until the new one introduced in 2016, I thought the most successful design was the black one- the monochrome colour scheme works much better on this unique shape than the contrasting schemes some of the other versions. Now, my favourite is the wonderful orange design with blue feathers.
I have slowly warmed to this shape over the past few years although it is by far, not my favourite of the Queen’s hats. Like many other Angela Kelly designs, it certainly is interesting! What do you think of this wrapped crown design work Which one of these versions is your favourite?
Photos from Getty as indicated
Royal Hats 
I do not like it at all. The colour is not that good. The Queen has worn more mellow tones of orange and it has worked. I like orange and blue together. Jean posted a question and I too have wondered if The Queen ever says no to hats , their colour and design.
I want her to be remember as the wonderful person that she is and not by the off clothes and hats that she wore.
The black one is really good – a black hat needs a bit of work to make it interesting, and this succeeds, I think.
You seem to have an agenda to criticize all of Angela Kelly’s hats. These ones are very nice hats and look wonderful on Her Majesty. Please stop doing this.
I have given praise and admiration to a number of Angela Kelly hats. This particular group, however, I do not like very much. It seems you feel differently and there is more than enough room at this blog for varied opinion! Let’s continue sharing what we like or don’t like. I assure you- the only agenda here is to share photos of and chat about royal hats!
The recurring thought is that Queen Mary, with her love of obtuse hattery, would have looked at these, shook her head, and said ‘try again’. It is a strange shape. Sometimes it almost does work, looking architectural and interesting, especially in the black and pink examples. But, really it is just another rather overworked craft project, from a designer who seems to confuse ‘unique’ with ‘lovely’.
I also think this hat shape is bizarre. The rounded top looks awkward and when you add on that pointed wrap-around part it really is not very attractive. Creative yes but not attractive!
The black is certainly the most flattering. i think the pink is just to matchy-matchy for me.
Perhaps the reason her designers use so many varied shapes is that Her Majesty is photographed all the time from different angles, and each angle has to look interesting!
If I wore a hat every day, I’d probably get bored of the regular shapes and want something different too! I like the pink one and the black one. I think the blue and green one has too much feathers.
I wonder, does the Queen ever say, “I won’t wear THAT?” or does she just quietly put on whatever anyone throws together for her? I rather like the trim of green on the brim, but the crown and that wrapped band is rather off-putting. They all look as though they would shield from the rain, but an upturned brim would look much more cheerful once in awhile.
I love all of HM’s hats but this one is a little odd. The green and blue combo is nice together!
The base shape of this hat (without the wrapped crown part) looks just like a cloche from the 1920s
love this tear drop shape hat with the rounded center on her!
All of them are rather nice thought not outstanding and I think the shape is alright. The Queen wears hats so often I think some variety is required.
The best is obviously the black one. My next favorite is the pink one. The last one looks a bit messy – too many colors, too many feathers and of different kinds. I assume this shape doesn’t allow much trim.
I think this hat shape is nice for a bit of a change but I agree it works better with less colors. It’s so interesting to see these hats together because then you really do see how they come from the same mold!