Yearly Archives: 2013

Milestone Birthday: The Duchess of Kent

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The Duchess of Kent (née Katharine Worsley) joined the British Royal Family in 1961 when she married Prince Edward, Duke of Kent (Queen Elizabeth’s first cousin). Katharine Kent, as she prefers to be known in her private life, is a highly regarded member of the royal family known for her warm and informal demeanor and her great love of music. When she withdrew from royal life in the 1990s, she took a job as a music teacher in a local primary school. These days, we see her mostly at family events. Today, however is a BIG event- Katharine’s 80th birthday. In honor of this milestone birthday, here is a tour through her hat history.

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Which one of Katharine’s hats stand out to you most?

Photos from Getty as indicated

Begian Royal Family attend Remembrance Mass

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Members of the Belgian Royal Family attended an annual Mass at Église Notre-Dame in Laeken, Belgium today to commemorate the lives of deceased Royal Family members.  Queen Paola led the group with an unstructured chocolate velvet beret hat trimmed with many rows of stitching which gives texture and a quilted look to the design. It’s a bit informal for my taste but works well with her coat.

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Princess Mathilde repeated a grey wool vagabond-style hat designed by Fabienne Delvigne she first wore for King’s Day celebrations back on November 15, 2011. It’s an effortlessly chic design she carries off fantastically.

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Princess Astrid and Princess Léa (wife of King Albert’s late step-brother Prince Alexander) were both in wool fedoras with slightly enlarged brims. I’m not usually a fedora fan but with their fur trimmed coats, these two princesses looked very chic as well. We have not see Princess Léa much since the death of her husband in 2009 and it’s wonderful to see her looking so well. Princes Marie Esmerelda (younger step-sister of King Albert) was also in attendance in a simple black wool hat with upturned brim.

Princess Claire did not attend this event- we’ll likely see her (and the rest of the family) at National Day celebrations on July 21. I also expect we’ll see a hat or two during Prince Phillippe and Princess Mathilde’s visit to Thailand in mid March.

What did you think of the Belgian royal hats today? Which one was your favourite?

Photos from Photonews, Bert Van Den Broucke/Photonews , Bert Van Den Broucke/Photonews, via Getty Images and PPE

The Queen at Sandringham

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Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip continue their stay at their Sandringham estate. Yesterday, they attended the Church of St. Mary Magdalene very close to their home. The Queen wore a bright turquoise hat with rolled brim that matched her wool coat (with very cute matching turquoise buttons). I believe the hat was designed by Angela Kelly- we last saw it in April last year when the Queen attended a Maundy Thursday Service in York.

Photo from Rex/Shutterstock

Queen Margrethe Opens Military Exhibition

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Queen Margrethe attended an exhibition opening today at Tøjhusmuseet, a military history museum in Slotsholmen (the historical center of Copenhagen that houses Danish Parliament and Christiansborg Palace). She wore a rusty brown beret, obviously made to coordinate with a suit in the same colour. It’s not the first colour I’d pick for Margrethe, but it looked great on her. The black band and bow around the beret crown is a lovely added touch, don’t you think?

UPDATE: We saw this hat again in November 2013 and in natural light, the colour is actually a deep oxblood red.

Photo from PPE

Lady Helen Taylor at Sandringham

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Back on January 13, I featured a photo of Queen Elizabeth attending church at during her stay at Sandringham. I totally missed the presence of another hat wearing member of the British Royal Family that morning- Lady Helen Taylor. She’s the daughter of the Queen’s first cousin, Edward, the Duke of Kent. She’s also fantastically stylish, having spent 17 years working for Armani. On January 13, she wore a pretty standard fur hat in winter white. I did not think it went well with her informal shearling coat (a little too much sheep on top, too much shepherdess on the bottom!). I’ll be honest- I’m not a big fan of these fur puffballs in general. If fur floats your fancy, I suppose this one is as good as any.

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Photos from Getty as indicated