25 years ago today, Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh were on an official tour of Singapore. The Queen wore this purple Philip Somerville pillbox hat with a large ruffle at the back, trimmed with silk violets. I think it remains one of the more memorable and interesting hats in her millinery past.
Royal Hats
The Bold, Beautiful and Bizarre World of Royal Millinery
Royal Hats 
well I remember a few of these different hats. I love the colours I love the dress pattern. I am Ok with the whole outfit. I wish she was just a bit more daring today. Do remember though when she wore that outfit it was somewhat actually in fashion although the back of the hat does seem unique.
My first thought?! She’s wearing a taco! 😀
I think this shape is cool. It’s so different from anything anyone is wearing today, and it frames the face in a really interesting way. That said, I could do without the bow and the flowers look craft-store-y. But I would love to see this shape in other interpretations before giving up on it altogether.
I know lots of readers simply don’t like prints, and they certainly aren’t very fashionable at the moment. But I enjoy this whole outfit. I like the way the hat echoes the dress, but in a really quirky way, with the surprise of the violets revealing themselves at the rear. I like the bizarre shape of the pillbox with the great ruffled fan-shaped fold at the back – so unusual, and such an interesting way to get part of the hat to frame the face without actually having a brim. And I love the colour!
The Queen has worn some extraordinary hats in her day – some good, some awful. I don’t hate this hat but think it would work much better with a colour-block outfit, not a pattern. Someone commented that she tends to wear much the same hat these days and there is a case for that, although she’s not as predictable as her mother was in her later years, just yet anyway. I don’t think the Queen has always been well served by her milliners and fashion designers but she keeps calm and carries on, and that’s one of the reasons we love her so much.
OMGosh! Just No.
I like the violets and the colour of the hat and that is all I have! Well no. That dress is an awful misuse of a beautiful printed fabric.
This hat is most unusual compared to the Queen’s hat choices of today. I like the hat….it is a nice surprise to see the violets peeking out from the rear view. She always looks very proper and well dressed.
Although the hat no longer is worn, the dress was worn just last year:
http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/17019358/6814d99a3eee4d02853287d75114eb33/96/0
Actually I believe that this now dated hat was replaced with a white hat with purple trim, but I’m unable to find the picture at the moment. (But I’m looking.)
the dress
I have searched for this dress worn with the newer hat you describe, to no avail. If you find a photo, please do share it!
This might be what you’re looking for. Can’t figure out how to get to the original photo — so I can’t tell date.
Well done! Unfortunately, there is no date associated with this photo. I`ll do some more digging and see what I can find.
I always thought that the milliner separated the brim from the front of the hat and pulled it back over the crown to create that folded sandwhich at the back. I applaud the effort, but it was not my cup of tea then or now.
I like this hat from the back- frivolity and movement and the lovely flowers peeping out (although the bow is a bit much)……..but Do Not like it from the front. Uughh shudder! And the dress. Now that’s a whole lotta print!! Thanks for the flashback Hat Queen.
No, no, no.
Whilst I love the colour it certainly looks like two hats joined together. It would have been better as just a pillbox style with no strange flaps, no fussy loopy bow, no awful fold over wavy whatever (!) and no flowers as the dress is already flowery. I’m sure it’s beautifully made but sadly it’s a mismatched mess.
Love the rich purple colour & I wish she would wear this colour more often. Pattern is a bit flower power – similar to my granny’s curtains in the 70’s.
The hat is better left in the royal hatbox with a note which says “do not wear again”. Perhaps she mislaid her glasses when choosing this one ?
The Queen wore a large variety of hats in her younger years. Different shapes, different styles, different decorations. Those who styled her hats certainly had a variety of ideas to put on her queenly head, and Elizabeth being a good sport wore them! It seems she does not experiment anymore and wears hats that are very similar just change the crown and the brim a little. But still the Queen always is regal like a queen should be. Her hats are always coordinated with her outfits which I like!
Good observation Karen, to which I completely concur. Perhaps Hat Queen might consider a post featuring Her Majesty’s more “out there” hats. She has certainly worn a huge variety and it is always interesting to compare fashion thru the years.
This hat makes me giggle. it looks like a craft project my 7 year old granddaughter would make and it’s even her favourite colour!
It’s kind of a crazy hat but I don’t hate it. It’s a Easter Sunday hat.
I always thought she looked like she had not really merged out of the late 60s in what she often wore in the 80s — other than she didn’t wear her turbans anymore – she seems a lot more with it style wise in her later years now. I used to think how terribly frumpy she looked when London was in it’s swinging mid 60s days!
The Queen most certainly wore a wide variety of hat styles in the earlier years. This style really never suited her. It is not one of my favorites.
it looks to me as two different hats stuck together. The back is interesting, but that pillbox part stuck on the front of her head I dislike. The awful dress is quite another story!
Thanks so much for sharing the flashback photos of QEII. I remember really not liking this hat when it debuted. Looking at the photos again, I realize it’s not while I still don’t like the overall design, I do like the violet trim. What I disliked the most, though, was the dreadful dress. QEII would have look much more smart in a violet skirt suit paired with a scarf or a brooch that picked up the violet theme, IMO.
I think you put into words what was thinking christinecarson2014. I do like the Queen in purple as a general rule.
I’m not sure about this one LOL! I guess it was the 80s.
Isn’t the queen going to Singapore next week? I think I read that somewhere.
The President of Singapore is coming to the UK on state visit beginning September 21.
I remember this hat well. These were her wilderness years style wise and she often meandered too far into the frump zone then. However I rather like this hat. It’s quirky and a bit fun, but anyone other than the Queen would look quite ridiculous in it. She also wore this outfit with a white coat, which was much less successful IMHO.