Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh welcomed President of South Korea, Park Geun-Hye, for the start of a three day state visit today. The Queen continued her recent streak of bright pink has with this new straw chapeau with flat crown and short, rolled, open-weave brim. It looks like the bands around the brim edge and crown are made of the same wool velvet as her coat. I particularly like how the different textures provide so much visual interest on what is otherwise, a rather simple hat. What do you think?
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Designer: Angela Kelly
Photos from Getty as indicated
Royal Hats 
This is a nice hat, and actually I like the contrast of straw and velvet to give interest, but the shape is rather boring. I think if you are going to be so plain in the execution, the shape needs to give a bit more interest (conversely, the more outre shapes need quite plain embellishment to look elegant – sorry, don’t know how to put the accent on “outre”!).
Straw in November is indeed strange. Shape is fine although it should possibly sit a little lower on the forehead to be truly flattering. The colour of the whole outfit is wonderful on the Queen. As for the austerity of the design – all I can see is that it complements the outfit of the visitor and does not overwhelm her in any uber-Royal way.
Now we’re talkin”! That is so much better. No wonky crowns and downturned brims. Great change!
I like the shape of this hat very much, but the open weave of the straw paired with the velvet is a disconnect. Is it a summer hat or a fall/winter hat? But the color is lovely!
So sweet! Her majesty looks very lovely in this beautiful hat.
Oh, how darling she looks. I love this color on her and her hat, I very much like this hat. The trim around the inside is very nice and chic. She really needs to wear more pinks and reds, they so brighten her up. From the look on the lady’s face, it seems everyone is very much in awe of Queen Elizabeth as they should be. What a wonderful thing it would be just to meet her face to face……….
HM has indeed been in the pink lately hasn’t she? The hat does show how elegant the Queen looks in a simple, classic hat shape. Vs, the postmodern Mad Hatter type “Frank Gehry architectural disasters” that so often go so wrong at Ms. Kelly’s hands. This hat, however, is so austere that one almost wishes for a tiny snippet of embellishment – just a touch of oomph, though since that would likely translate to overglitzed and junked up, it’s quite lovely just as it is!
I quite agree on two points: (1) a lot of pink recently, and (2) simple, classic lines are best on the Queen, but this hat — in fact, the entire outfit — is a little austere. This will do as a standard working uniform in the future, but perhaps someone can find something to stick on the front of the hat to dress it up just a smidgeon.
I agree -but the straw brim looks a little summery to me.
I thought something wasn’t quite right about this hat but I couldn’t put my finger on it. You are right. The straw brim looks very summery but the velvet looks wintery. It doesn’t match.
I agree. I prefer straw be kept to summer hats, but the color is lovely