Yearly Archives: 2013

Queen Margrethe of Denmark in Haderslev and Zealand

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Queen Margarethe of Denmark has had a busy week of hat wearing so far this week. Yesterday, she attended  Marianne Christiansen’s installation as Bishop of Haderslev at the Haderslev Domkirke (Haderslev Cathedral). A short video of Margrethe entering the church can be seen on the cathedral’s Facebook page here. For this event, she wore her textured red picture hat with raised brim and side bow detail.

This morning, Margrethe attended the 275th anniversary of the Vallø Foundation (the foundation that supports Vallø Castle, a residence for unmarried, widowed and divorced women of noble decent). She wore the same black straw picture hat (with ruched band around the crown and a looped side bow) she wore while on a visit to England last summer. I suppose the shape is all right but compared to her usually millinery which is much brighter and bolder, this hat seems rather bland.

Which hat do you prefer?

Photo from Haderslev Domkirke and Rikke Michael Hansen

British Royals at the Windsor Horse Show

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It’s lovely to be back after a weekend away. We have several hats to catch up on!

The British Royal Family have been busy this weekend with Prince Harry on tour in the USA (stay tuned later today for a post about this), Kate debuting a new hat at a wedding and several others enjoying the Royal Windsor Horse Fair. Prince Philip enjoyed the Horse Fair last Thursday in this natty newsboy cap. For their day at the fair on Saturday, Prince Edward  chose a leather outback style hat while his daughter, Lady Louise, wore a cute coogan cap. Isn’t it sweet on her?! Edward looked quite well in his hat but it was the wrong hat to wear with a tweed coat and tie.

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Yesterday, Queen Elizabeth braved the muck to present a number of fair awards. She repeated the vibrant purple Rachel Trevor Morgan we last saw her wear in early February while at Sandringham. While I love this colour on her more and more each time she wears this hat, I think the “bumps” on the top of the crown make the overall shape of this hat look a little off.

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Prince Philip participated in the Fair yesterday as a carriage driver (a sport in which he has become quite an expert) and looked quite patriotic in a red, white and blue panama hat. It’s a good hat on him but very awkward with his tweed coat and green tie. I think panama hats belong with chinos and linen shirts on summer vacation but that’s just me.

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My favourite image at the Royal Windsor Horse Fair this year was this one of the Queen. While we think of her in tiaras and fancy hats, I suspect she prefers a headscarf to a tiara most days. I think these photos capture how how much of a country girl she is at heart.

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UPDATE: Reader Jelsta pointed out another sighting of the Queen at the Royal Windsor Horse show on Saturday (May 11) in the lovely turquoise Rachel Trevor Morgan hat we last saw her wear in January this year while at Sandringham. I still think this is a wonderful hat on the queen- what do you think about this one?

Photos from Getty as indicated; Gf/Bauer Griffin 

Duchess of Cambridge Debuts New Hat

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The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge attended the wedding of friends William van Cutsem and Rosie Ruck Keene in Oxfordshire this weekend – for this occasion, she debuted a new hat made by Viviene Sherif.  A photo released by the milliner shows it to be a pyramid saucer hat covered in overlapping rows of feathers. The hat is trimmed with a spray of black feathers and curled quills around the back. The feather work is beautiful but there’s something about the pyramid shape in this particular scale that I don’t think works very well.

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Photos from Getty as indicated

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