The funeral of Arthur Valerian Wellesley, 8th Duke of Wellington, was held today at Stratfield Saye Church in Hampshire. Among the mourners in attendance were Princess Sarvath and Prince El Hassan bin Talal of Jordan. Princess Sarvath wore a close fitting turban-style hat in black fur while Prince El Hassan wore a Papakha hat in grey Karakul sheep’s wool. It is not often that we see royal men in such hats and I thought this one was memorably fitting for the occasion.
Photo from Getty as indicated
Royal Hats 
My family and I would love to own these hats. They look warm too.
Fabulous hats!
HatQueen, could you enlighten us about exactly what a Papakha hat is?
Yes! It’s about time we added more hats to our hat glossary. I’ll put something together, soon.
Yes, I also want to know more about it. These hats look snug!
Beautiful hats, and no doubt, very warm.
New Duchess of Wellington is former Princess Antonia von Preussen, great granddaughter of Kaiser Wilhelm II.
Next duke will be in the line of succession to the british throne.
Very nice indeed. I like that he wore a hat as well, and it is striking.
I love both hats! I think the Prince’s hat is particularly striking.
It is irresponsible and unethical for royals to wear fur. There are no exceptions.
It is not correct at this time to wear any newly purchased fur items. However, if the fur garment is purchased used or handed down from another person, then it is completely appropriate. Since we don’t know the provenance of the hat, he may be completely PC. Also, it appears to be Persian lamb or possibly an older animal, killed for its meat. Wasting the animals pelt would be of no use, and stealing a farmer’s income isn’t so PC, either.
His hat is not fur, it’s wool. Astrakhan hats, as this is a form of – Astrakhan is from the karakul sheep breed of central Asia – have been around for donkey’s years. The breed has been domesticated since perhaps 1400BC. The wool is also used to make Bukhara rugs (the sheep originated in the Bukhara area).
Indeed. I originally referred to this as ‘fur’ in the post but sheep’s fur is wool and the sheep does not die in the process of donating it!
Dignified, respectful
Beautiful, both. Very stylish.