Members of six royal houses gathered at the former Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in Oswiecim, Poland today to commemorate the 70th anniversary of its liberation. Gathered together to remember the horrific history of this place, where more than one and a half million people lost their lives, were the King and Queen of Belgium, the King and Queen of the Netherlands, Crown Prince Haakon of Norway, Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden, Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark and the Hereditary Grand Duke and Duchess of Luxembourg.
For the outdoor commemoration ceremony, Queen Mathilde wore a large black faux fur hat.
Queen Máxima repeated a black wool calot hat with wide, folded cuff around the perimeter of the hat. In a respectful and touching gesture, King Willem Alexander wore a traditional Jewish kippah.
Crown Princess Victoria and Hereditary Grand Duchess Stèphanie did not wear hats for this event. This commemoration, however, was not about hats or who attended. It was about taking time to remember a period of purest evil so that through this memory, humanity can keep it from becoming part of our future.
“What is done cannot be undone, but one can prevent it happening again.” – Anne Frank, 7th May 1944
I encourage you to watch the full commemoration ceremony below.
Photos from Getty as indicated and Patrick van Katwijk via Monarchy Press
Princess Charlene of Monaco celebrated her 37th birthday yesterday- I’m sure you join me in wishing her the very best. While Charlene does not wear hats very often, there is one previously worn piece that stands out to me- the dove grey straw picture hat she wore for the wedding of Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge in April 2011. The simplicity of the design and the gentle wave of the brim made it an exquisite hat on Charlene and I would love to see her wear it again.
Royal Hats 