Members of the British Royal Family attended Sunday morning service on Sunday morning at the Church of St. Mary Magdalene near Sandringham. Queen Elizabeth led her family in a repeated cloche hat with diagonally cut crown. The hat was made of the same silk embroidered wool fabric as her coat, and trimmed with sequins wired into small flowers. It is a hat that looks a little bland from a distance but upon close view, shows considerable intricacy and layered texture. I just wish there was some colour contrast between the hat and the trim to show it off to greater effect.
Designer: Angela Kelly
Previously Worn: April 30, 2013
The Countess of Wessex repeated a beret cocktail hat entirely covered in feathers. When we first saw this hat at Easter this year, I liked the subtle variation of colour in the hat but was less inclined to like the black ‘claw’ of feathers trimming it. Since I am fickle, I have now decided that the shape looks more like a helmet than a beret, which makes me less keen on this hat. I’m also not a fan of it with Sophie’s pink coat.
Designer: unknown
Previously Worn: April 20, 2014
Princess Anne repeated her black faux fur hat with upfolded brim. It is a cozy and classic winter hat that worked very well with Anne’s green and black suit and cape.
Designer: Yvette Jelfs
Previously Worn: March 15, 2013; January 18, 2010
The only new hat of the day was worn by Princess Anne’s daughter-in-law Autumn Phillips. Autumn wore a cocktail beret hat in caramel herringbone tweed trimmed in a curled sash and pheasant feathers. I think it is the perfect hat for an event in the country and it looked incredibly chic with Autumn’s caramel scarf and boots against her navy coat.
Designer: Juliette Botterill. It is a variation of the Pheasant Feather Cocktail Hat
Previously Worn: This is a new hat
In this quartet of royal hats, did any stand out as particularly brilliant to you?
Photos from Getty as indicated
Royal Hats 
That’s a lovely profile shot of the Queen looking appropriate and not at all elderly in her biscuity outfit, neat black accessories, subtly trimmed hat and brooch.
Sophie is fond of statement hats but rarely has the chutzpah to put together an outfit that lives up to the hat. I’d love to see the outfit that could live up to this hat!
Autumn comes across to me as a casual, fun loving “girl next door” type. Witness her woolly scarf, casual boots and shortish navy coat. The hat ion the other hand is ultra chic and is looking for a more refined outfit. I think it is another mismatch for Autumn and an expensive one.
I think HM looked lovely, but she did seem a bit underdressed while all the others were wearing heavier overcoats. The detailing on her hat is nice, but it does unfortunately get lost (and the lack of color almost always disappoints me). Autumn’s fascinator wins the day in terms of hattery, but I can’t fully comment on the whole outfit without seeing a better photo. Anne overall wins for me, even though her hat is more casual; funny to see her repeat her emerald outfit from Easter, while Sophie recycles her Easter hat at the same time. Sophie looks like a mess here; her Pepto Bismal coat is not great, and that hat looks like it had some rough days between Easter and Christmas.
Anne. It looks like a darn cold day and she’s the only one who doesn’t look like she’s shivering. I love Sophie’s pink coat – it’s the roadkill on her head that’s causing me a problem.
Princess Anne for me…who would have thought that! She looks lovely here.
Happy to pick Anne and Autumn as winners …. Anne, who would have thought? She looks put-together and entirely appropriate for the occasion. Love Autumn’s hat but, as I said about her previous outing, if only that coat was a little longer it would have been fantabulosa! Sophie’s hat is not right and wouldn’t be even with a coat within coee of matching. The Queen’s outfit is fine, but that hat is a bit meh. If you have to get up close to appreciate the decoration what use is that to the people who stand a respectful distance away or are kept behind barriers?
Princess Anne is my winner. The faux fur hat is a winter classic and I loved the bright green dress and cape with black trim. I’m just meh on the Queen’s outfit and Autumn’s. Very sorry to say that I don’t like anything about Sophie’s outfit. The hat is awful.
Close-ups of the fabric for the Queen’s outfit show an thick, intricate blue-pink bouclé with elaborate trim on the coat and hat, but from a distance beige is all one sees. I like the hat and think these hats with the diagonally cut crowns are made specifically to make the Queen appear taller. (Whether this works or whether it emphasizes her shortness is another matter, of course.) Despite all the Queen’s colorful outfits, she also seems to have a lot of beige or off-white for when she wants not to stand out.
Princess Anne’s hat, while casual, goes nicely with her outfit. Autumn Phillips’s hat is spectacular.
Not a fan of Autumn with this type of little hat on — she needs to have more coverage for the shape and size of her head esp when her hair is pulled back tight light it usually is. Sophi looks great. Anne looks fine i think, quite practical and I do like her in the green with faux trim cape and the hat works for her with that outfit – would imagine she was quite comfy with her head kept warm. QEII seems a little on the light dressing side for this time of the season – I think I would prefer to see her in a fabrication that is less light weight looking and in a more saturated color for this time of year.
I suspect (hope) she’s wearing merino wool undergarments. Nothing like them for keeping the cold at bay. Oh, okay, it could be something synthetic but I hope the HM would think of her Commonwealth farmers!
I do not like the little hats in the middle of the Winter. The Queen looked the best overall however sort of overdressed. I hate the shape of her hat. When I think about it perhaps Princess Ann is the best.
Autumn’s hat is fabulous. Anne’s hat is the sort of shapeless type that will never be my favourite, but looks okay with this outfit – capes perhaps need shapeless hats! The Queen’s is fine, the detailed embellishment is really lost, though. I rather like Sophie’s hat, and at first thought that I could never imagine it going with this coat. But looking at the whole outfit from a distance, I thought perhaps the thing that really fails it is the scarf, which introduces yet another colour palette and completes the mish-mash picture. The colour of the gloves, on the other hand, is excellent; so I am trying to re-imagine it with aubergine scarf / accessories instead of the grey tones, and actually, I think that would tie the coat and the hat together pretty well!
I liked the outfit Autumn Phillips wore best, including her caramel cocktail beret hat. This was the best hat in this group. The Countess of Wessex’s beret cocktail hat entirely covered in feathers, which looked like roadkill, was my pick for worse hat here, and one of the worst hats of the year, and one of the worst hat and outfit combinations. Princess Anne’s black faux fur hat with upfolded brim is not my cup of tea, but it suited her quite well, but at first glance I thought she had a horse blanket on. The Queen looked alright but the outfit lacked interest, and I am so sick of these Angela Kelly hats with tall diagonally cut crowns, and I think they are unflattering to a petite lady like the Queen.
You certainly hit the nail on the head when you talked about those Angel Kelly hats. I’m with you 100% on that! If Autumn had a longer coat, to cover the top of her boots, she would have won the day for me. Maybe she still did!
I like the Queen’s biscuity rigout, and the hat trim is lovely, though you’re right, it is all a tad beige. I love Sophie’s hat. I love her coat. They just don’t go together. So it’s Autumn for the win – she’s establishing some real style credentials – she really is looking great a lot these days, and this is no exception.