Prince Pieter-Christiaan and Princess Anita of Orange-Nassau are celebrating their tenth wedding anniversary this week. In honour of this milestone, we’re going to take a look back this week at the many hats worn at their civil and religious weddings.
Prince Pieter-Christiaan, third son of Princess Margriet of the Netherlands and her husband, Professor Pieter van Vollenhoven, met Anita van Eijk when they were both working in London, sometime between 2000 and 2003. Their civil wedding, on August 25, 2005, took place at Het Loo Palace in Apeldoorn (the Prince was raised on a nearby estate) attended by family and friends. Following the trend set by other von Vollenhoven daughter-in-laws, Anita wore a brightly coloured Andrew Gn suit for the civil ceremony.
Printed with coral and trimmed with chunky beads at the collar and cuffs, the green and yellow ensemble was topped with a large headpiece in the same shades. Made up of splayed straw leaves around a central mass of yellow ranunculus blooms, I remain perplexed about how Anita’s garden headpiece related to the deep-sea theme of her suit.
The groom’s mother, Princess Margriet, topped her black and white suit with a coordinating pompom fascinator. Princess Marilène, wife of Prince Maurits, wore an avant garde hat with a stacked gold straw crown and transparent cream brim, attached most unusually at the top of the crown. With her gold bubble skirt, the ensemble had a decidedly futuristic, outer space vibe about it.
Princess Annette and Aimée Söhngen (Prince Floris’ fiancée who would join the Dutch royal family just two months later) both wore black and white ensembles topped with coordinating cartwheel brimmed hats. Aimée’s hat, with its black straw crown and white lattice brim, added a particularly lovely top note to her elegant ensemble.
At the time of this wedding, I wondered if the black/white/gold ensembles worn by Princess Margriet and her daughters-in-law were deliberately chosen to let the bride stand out. If this was indeed the case, it did not apply to Queen Beatrix (as was her title then), who topped her cornflower blue dress with a tall crowned hat in silver straw.
The loudest style statement at these civil nuptials was made by Princess Laurentien, who wore a vibrant turquoise and lime trouser suit. The oufit’s pairing with a coordinating turquoise gigantic, flat crowned picture hat by Fabienne Delvigne simply defies description.
While some of these Dutch royal hats make rather bold statements, I think overall, they have aged surprisingly well in ten years of changing fashion (much better than the outfits they were paired with!) and with some new frocks, could be successfully repeated today. I’m curious which pieces stand out to you most, dear readers, and for what reasons.
Photos from ANP and Getty as indicated
Royal Hats 
Dear me, a step back in time….not liking anything from this group…………how times have changed.
this makes me giggle, a lot
Everyone except Laurentien looks great, but where was Maxima and Mabel?
Laurentien is not wearing an outfit but a costume…an inappropriate and silly costume. Everyone else looks OK to varying degrees but nothing special.
Unusual to have a patterned dress on the bride for a wedding, even a civil one, isn’t it? While I like both the black and white hats, the black thigh-high boots on Princess Anita do not complement her overall look. I do like the light gray hat on Queen Beatrix; a color I don’t remember seeing her wear very often, but she should! The bride’s mother had a very pretty pale blue hat, but not sure why the edging on the brim was beige.
I quite like Princess Anita’s rather odd outfit. First of all, the headpiece doesn’t show straight-on from the front. When it does show, though, it goes nicely with the bouquet and with her shoes.
Princess Laurentien, however, is another matter. While I like the color combination, the styling certainly is out of place for a wedding and actuyall out of place for public viewing. There really isn’t any part of that outfit that would look normal with anything.
The black and white hats all seem rather timeless.
Wow. There sure were some looks on show here! I can see what the bride was doing, and I don’t hate that retro suit, but for your wedding? Hmm, I’m not convinced.
Margriet is stuck in the 90s, Marilene is stuck in the 30s (and not in a good way). Thank heavens for Aimee.
And then there’s Laurentien. This is her at her clownish worst. It’s actually just a terrible outfit. What was she thinking? But then she’s got form – for a few years there were plenty more where this came from. Alas.
Oh dear. I didn’t find much good to say did I.
What was Laurentien thinking?
Princess Anita’s suit was not in fashion so much but she looked beautiful because she was so happy! The yellow and green headpiece is is nice contrast with her dark hair.
I guess the most positive thing I can say is that indeed, lots of those hats can still be worn today. But some of those outfits are complete disasters!
That’s what’s so interesting about these hats- they are greatly effected by the outfits they were paired with! Imagine Anita’s headpiece with a green lace cocktail dress or Laurentien’s turquoise hat with a full skirted (1950s silhouette) floral dress?
Maybe Anitas headpiece was supposed to look like seaweed? It’s pretty from the side but from the back looks like a claw grabbing her head. The stone beadwork on her suit is beautiful but the fabric print should be left back in the 1960s.
I’m sorry but the clothes at this wedding are awful! That green suit on the bride really ages her and what’s up with Princess Margriet’s bow extraveganza? And there are NO WORDS for what Laurentien turned up in.
The hats are only as good as the clothes they’re worn with- Amen to that.
Loved everything except for Princess Laurentien. Too 70s
I’m with you Mary! Princess Laurentien, the 70s called, they want all their gear back please!
The color scheme for Princess Anita’s outfit and casque hat are right on, but I agree the more floral headpiece and ocean-esque dress don’t quite match; I do love that jeweled collar though, and overall say it’s a win, especially because she looks so happy.
Margriet’s fascinator just looks like a koosh ball in her hair unfortunately. I have always loved this hat on Marilene for its uniqueness, but then again, I’m a sci-fi fan, so it appeals to that side of me as well.
Both Annette and Aimee look great in their black and white ensembles. They’re hats are certainly the most timeless of this group.
I think Beatrix looked great and I don’t think her color scheme distracted from the bride. The same can not be said for Laurentien however; while I like the pairing of this green and blue, this is all too much. That hat is way oversized, and this pantsuit belongs in a 70s disco. You can’t blame her for trying though.
Finally, I think the mother of the bride had my favorite hat of the day. Can’t wait for the religious ceremony post; I’m certain I’m gonna have one or two unpopular opinions there haha.