Queen Elizabeth hosted the first of three summer garden parties this season today at Buckingham Palace. For this event, she repeated her lilac straw hat with asymmetrical brim and trim details of navy ribbon and silk flowers. It’s a hat I think looks fantastic from this view (and less so from a closer view, as we saw it last time)
Embed from Getty Images
Embed from Getty Images
Embed from Getty Images
Designer: Angela Kelly, made by Stella McLaren
Previously Worn: June 20, 2013
Prince Philip looked very dapper in morning dress with a dove grey top hat.
With the Wessexes in Scotland and the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall in Canada, Princess Beatrice stepped in to support her grandparents at this party. She unveiled a new hat for the occasion, a grey-brown straw beret swathed in tulle net and topped with a cream silk bloom and large straw bow loops. This is a hat I could like, if it was paired with an outfit that actually made sense. I don’t see anything that connects this hat with either this blouse or skirt… and I wish I did.
Embed from Getty Images
Embed from Getty Images
Designer: Robyn Coles’ “Rose Beret”
Previously Worn: I believe this hat is new
The Duchess of Gloucester also attended. She appeared to be wearing a new beret style hat with ruched front and large bow at the back. This shade of blue is just beautiful on her.
Photos from Getty as indicated and The British Monarchy
Royal Hats 
Lovely youthful hat + granny blouse + haute couture skirt = hot mess
I like the hat and I agree with you on the outfit.
Philip is amazing. Love the Queen in the lilac. Goodness Bea definitely needs HELP in the fashion arena. That girl can sure muck up clothes. That skirt is downright weird! The hat is horrible. That white/cream flower on top is way too large although it does seem to match the blouse. At least something matches! The net is too much for that hat! What a mess.
Poor Bea. The hat is the best part of the outfit, and it needs work. The netting looks too large and at a strange angle. The blouse and skirt are not attractive and don’t seem to fit the tenor of a garden party. A dressy coat or a suit could have been better. And she should experiment with putting her hair up in a chignon or twist.
Princess Beatrice needs wardrobe advice urgently! The whole outfit is awful. Why would you put glittering sequins on a secretary-style blouse, for a daytime event? The floral skirt is garish, too short, and makes her hips look wide. The hat is just awful, and when will the younger royal women get the message that it’s “hat or hair” and you simply cannot have long hair blowing around at royal events? At least she didn’t wear that awful hat that looked like a toilet seat that she wore to Prince William’s wedding!
I like Beatrice for enjoying experimenting with her hats. I’m not sure this is a success in my eyes, though, I think mainly because the veiling is rather heavy, and completely obscures the form of the hat below / behind it.
+ the Duchess of Gloucester
http://royalwatcher.tumblr.com/post/86421340492/members-of-the-british-royal-family-attend-the
I love Bea’s hat and blouse, wish it were a different skirt though! HRH always looks great to me! HM, hhhhhmmm. Hat is great from above as has been said, the coat really just looks like is needs a stronger lining, or HM is losing weight and alterations are needed. As always it is such a pleasure to see her out and about and her lovely smile makes it all worthwhile !! Thank you Hat Queen for making it such a pleasure to read your lovely blog!
I have always thought that the Queen looks good in purple although without wanting to sound picky, I would call this lavender not lilac. She has to stand out remember! I thought this hat was okay- I like the angled brim and the trimmings below and above it but maybe the dark blue ribbon is perhaps a bit heavy. Perhaps if the ribbon was thinner and the bow didn’t protrude as much…..
P.S. Whilst looking at the Royal Ascot comparison I noticed comments by a guest speaker. Will that be happening this year? Thanks.
Have you ever seen lilac flowers blooming? They are exactly the same color as this outfit. Lavender is a lot lighter with a tinge of gray-blue in it.
Thankyou Janae, as I have not seen a lilac in bloom, I shall defer to your higher authority. As a result, an enjoyable and informative half hour was spent, googling colour names with my elderly mother; her choice of word not always correlating with the name on screen! Perhaps it could also have something to do with geography- we are writing from Australia. Either way, thankyou for making me look more closely at the myriad of colours and their sometimes unusual names.
MrFitzroy has gone off on this hat before, and will spare you gentle readers (and our Dear HatQueen) from a reprise.
Suffice to say, The Queen should only be photographed from above, or from her right side profile, while wearing this particular hat.
Princess Beatrice: we’ve become accustomed to seeing her in ‘safe mode’ recently, it’s a bit of a noodle to see her back flirting with iconoclast territory once again.
The D of E: proves once again that if one is an old sod, be a dapper example!
Yes to the previous commentary. As my 13 year old daughter said- “I’d wear this blouse any day of the week!” I too thought that the rose matched the colour of the blouse beautifully and ditto the collar detail and the beret. The netting is a little OTT for me, but very Beatrice. The skirt and the black wedges however, are a very different story, but that said, I think that Beatrice is generally a very stylish young woman. I wonder if her and Dave will make it official any time soon. They seem like a very well suited couple.
Re Princess Bea, the rose is the same colour as her blouse and the collar crystals seem to pick up the grey base hat. Its an interesting look, totally Bea and she looks young and pretty.
The netting on Bea’s hat isn’t done very artfully. Lots of potential but poorly executed. And the skirt makes her look much larger than she is. And don’t get me started on the Bedazzled shirt collar.
The Queen looks like she slept in her coat! It has horrible tailoring. And poor Bea – gads that’s horrible – it might work if it was a tad smaller and paired with a more formal suit – Prince looks good but there’s not too much that can go wrong with that morning coat and top hat look if it’s tailored well.
Yes the winner is the Prince…but his hat seems to be bent on the left side front?
The Queen’s coat is off completely. I like it best when she wears suits . The hat is a hat.
The Princess…what is that …she has no taste at all. Terrible.
Let’s please keep comments to our opinions about the hats and not descend into a useless debate on levels of taste.
The winner is Prince Philip!
The silk flowers on the Queen’s hat are inspired by the dress, I guess. Fine. But that giant navy blue ribbon defies logic. You’re right: in the first picture above the hat doesn’t look bad; the little bit of ribbon showing could be mistaken for another lamp post or whatever those two things are behind the Queen. The front-on views of this hat, though, are not flattering. I’m afraid to speculate on what inspired Miss Kelly to add this giant ribbon bow. Is there a corresponding ribbon on the dress? After seeing all the Queen’s hats that were modified or replaced this year, I was hoping that someone would have attacked this hat with scissors and removed that ribbon. (Actually I’m not crazy about the coat either. Pitch the whole thing.)