The most prolific hat-wearing royal house (by far!) are the British Royals. As such, we need to break our review of their hats into three posts. First up are members of the extended British royal family. As with other 2014 Review posts, please click on each photo to link to the original post on each hat, complete with additional views, larger photos and detailed information. Here are all the hats worn by members of the extended British royal family in 2014:
The Duchess of Gloucester
1. 
2. 
3. 
4. 
5. 
6. 
Lady Gabriella Windsor and Lady Frederick Windsor
7. 
8. 
9-10. 
Princess Michael of Kent
11. 
12. 
13. 
14. 
15. 
16. 
17. 
Lady Helen Taylor
18. 
19. 
Countess of St. Andrews (20-21), Lady Marina Windsor (22) and Zenouska Mowatt (23)
20. 
21. 
22.
23.
Princess Alexandra of Kent
24. 
25. 
26. 
27. 
28. 
29. 
30. 
31. 
32. 
Do any of these hats make the cut for your nomination as favourite royal hat of 2014? Are any among your least favourite?
Please click on each photo to link back to the original post with additional information and photo sources
Royal Hats 
Princess Alexandra all the way! Especially the blue one – such an elegant woman. Also, milliner to TRH’s The Duchess of Cambridge and The Countess of Wessex named a hat after Zenouska after she wore it to the Trooping but my favourite is the one she wore to Ascot.
Princess Michael of Kent, #15. Definitely!
My family and I have discussed these hats and read the comments and we decided the following:
Duchess of Gloucester: best hat is Photo 6; worst hat is Photo 3.
Lady Gabriella Windsor: best hat is Photo 7; worst hat is Photo 9
Lady Frederick Windsor: best hat is Photo 8; worst hat is Photo 10.
Princess Michael of Kent: best hat is Photo 15; worst hat is Photo 11.
Lady Helen Taylor: best hat is Photo 18; worst hat is Photo 19.
Countess of St. Andrews: best hat is Photo 20; worst hat is Photo 21.
Lady Marina Windsor: only 1 hat, and it’s too large for her and sitting at an odd angle on her head, so worst hat Photo 22.
Zenouska Mowatt: only 1 hat, and it’s best hat is Photo 23.
Princess Alexandra: best hat is Photo 28; worst hat is Photo 26.
Happy, safe and prosperous New Year to HatQueen and all the readers.
I would love to thank the British Royals for showing us so many hats this year and HatQueen for giving us such terrific coverage and research and hope this will continue in 2015. Happy New Year to you all!
The Duchess of Gloucester is one of my favorite Royals, and her hats and outfits seldom miss the mark. I like all her hats except the one at 3, as it’s an odd shape. I do love the color of it though.
Lady Gabriella Windsor and Lady Frederick Windsor made good hat choices at 7 & 8, but I think 9 & 10 are a bit too over-the-top and the hat in 9 partly obscures her face.
Princess Michael of Kent is always so flamboyant, so I wouldn’t wear most of her hats myself, however, I think she usually manages to carry them off. I would wear 14, 15, 16 & 17.
Lady Helen Taylor dresses in a way that is not to my taste at all. I don’t like either hat shown, especially 19 as it looks like she has a crumpled hanky on her head. It’s one of the year’s worst hats.
Countess of St. Andrews (20-21), Lady Marina Windsor (22) and Zenouska Mowatt (23) have appalling taste in cloths and hats. I think 23 is the best of this group.
Princess Alexandra of Kent is one of my favorite Royals and she usually dresses with elegance and style. Sometimes her clothes can look rather dated. I don’t like her hats with the really tall crowns. My favorite hat and outfit on her is 27. She looks so good in blue. I think the crown is way too tall in 26, 30 & 31. I did love the color of her hat and outfit in 30.
The Duchess of Gloucester’s hats are very ladylike and complete her outfits without being a show on their own. This is a good thing in my opinion. For me hats complete outfits. They don’t exist on their own. I like 4 on her.
Lady Gabriella is very “hatty” and looks wonderful in her large hats. That said I think some of them are a little “too important” for her age and role. In my view it isn’t good form for a junior royal to “outhat” the Queen or the Duchess of Cornwall on an important public occasion. This is my problem with 9 although I think it is a smashing hat which goes well with the outfit and probably the Queen could care less!
I am not a fan of Princess Michael’s style and/or hats and will refrain from comment!
Lady Helen Taylor’s delicious cranberry coloured confection (No. 18) just misses the mark for me as did her whole outfit. I don’t think it is good thing to see the clothes before you see the person and this is sometimes the case with Lady Helen.
In my view the Countess of St Andrews wears big statement hats that don’t suit her at all and which are poorly coordinated with her outfits creating a jarring effect. She may be one of those unfortunate people who are not suited by hats but a less unruly hairdo and more attention to the detail of the basic outfit might help.
Like many hatters I am very fond of Princess Alexandra but I find her look a little quaint and dated these days although always elegant and serene. She seems to favour hats with a high crown and I don’t much like them on her. No. 25 is my favourite of those shown although I find it resembles one the Queen wears also from Rachel Trevor Morgan. I am not sure if this is a good or bad thing!
Princess Alexandra is almost always my favorite. Her choices always seem to be eminently suitable for the occasion and she dresses from head to toe so the hat is part of the ensemble — not the focus.
My goodness, I suddenly see a striking resemblance between Lady Gabriella Windsor and her aunt, Princess Alexandra – see photos 7 & 8, something I hadn’t noticed before.
Gaby looks great in both those hats and Aunty Alex looks particularly good in numbers 27, 31 and 32. I also like Lady Helen Taylor’s pink pancakes, no 18!
So much to love here! I kind of want to be Princess Alexandra if I ever grow up, and part of the reason is these great hats!
#25 on Princess Alexandra!! Oh, I would LOVE to have a hat like that (and to be able towear it with her elegance!)
I love #2 on the D of G. She’s one of my favorite royals. I agree with everyone who thinks Princess Alexandra can do no wrong. All those hats in between that are trying too hard, that are wearing their wearers instead of the other way around if that makes sense, can go on the worst list.
Princess Alexandra can do no wrong, and that’s all there is to it.
Oh boy, I wonder how many parts for this family there will be? I think #15 is the only standout of this bunch for me.
There are several hats here that I would love to call my own. I like #3 on the Duchess of Glouchester and 16 on Princess Michael. I have to say Princess Alexandra would be my overall winner, as I pretty much love everything she wore this year. I’d say #27 was my favorite of hers.
My favorites from the Kents were #6 on the Duchess of Gloucester and #25 on Princess Alexandra. I love Lady Gabriella is bucking the trend of smaller headpieces and continues to shine in large brimmed hats, even if they don’t particularly stand out (at least in terms of color). For the sake of frivolity, #18 on Lady Helen is smashing, but would probably only work on her. And I do wish we could’ve gotten better views of Lady Marina (#22), because I adore her outfit and wish I could pass better judgment on her hat (as of now, it gets total approval from me).
Lady *Amelia* Windsor is wearing number 22, granddaughter of the Duke of Kent. Lady Amelia has an older sister, Lady Marina (I have sometimes seen her name hyphenated as Marina-Charlotte) and of course, their father’s cousin is Ms Marina Mowatt, Princess Alexandra’s daughter, who doesn’t have a title.
Although looking at the original post, I am now confused as this young woman was identified by HQ as Lady Marina (and that seems to have been an edit). My apologies Jake.
Sorry for the confusion. I think the young woman in question is Lady Marina Windsor. I have updated the post accordingly.
Princess Alexandra of Kent wins with two hats: 25 and 27. Her others are excellent too. She wears them with style and grace.
Princess Michael of Kent’s hats always are fun to look at.
It’s the Kent’s all the way for me. Alexandra is elegance personified, if I had to choose, then I think I’d go for her dove grey ensemble. Lady Gabriella looks lovely – she actually goes for hats that could be considered too old for her (after all, she and Camilla often overlap), but she’s such a classical icy beauty, that it doesn’t matter. And then of course there’s Princess Zsa Zsa of Kent – her hats are never dull after all, even when they’re not a totall success!
Anything Princess Alexandra is wearing is perfect. She is such a good looking and dignified lady. I would love all her hats in my closet.
I think I know which one I will pick as the best for 2014… Although it isn’t in this grouping I do like Princess Alexandra ‘s dignified style.