After looking at the marvellous hats worn at Prince Pieter-Christiaan and Princess Anita’s civil wedding ten years ago, it is now time to look at the hats worn by guests at their religious ceremony.
The groom’s mother, Princess Margriet, topped her two toned pink suit with a magenta straw hat with a wide, upfolded brim. The hat appeared to have a double crown, thanks to a tall wrap of straw around the rounded crown, and the piece was trimmed with pink and red feathers on the side.
Anita’s mother, J.C.M. van Eijk-Steens, topped her ice blue suit with a straw hat in the same hue. This piece had a double brim made of translucent straw and was trimmed with straw rosettes, training bow tails, and pale blue feathers. While there is much going on with the hat, it was well balanced with her more streamlined suit.
Princess Marilène topped her gunmetal grey and aubergine ensemble with a navy straw hat. Trimmed with a large purple flower on the side (see it here), the simple straw piece swept off her face in a gently upfolded brim. It’s a fairly nondescript hat that seemed slightly at odds with the rest of her more fashion-forward outfit.
Princess Annette repeated the same cream straw hat she wore two days earlier to the civil wedding, replacing the black ribbon around the crown with a slim one in palest blue. I suppose it’s hardly a surprising move for a princess who has very few public engagements (and ever fewer which require a hat) to recycle a neutral piece in this kind of way.
Aimée Söhngen, who would marry the Princess Margriet’s youngest son two months later, wore a bright pink short Fez style hat wrapped in a large veil of dotted pink net. Clearly designed to coordinate with her pink dotted jacket and shoes, the hat seemed off balance and oddly squashed around the middle. Unfortunately, the piece was left looking like a 1960s lampshade.
Queen Beatrix (as she was then) topped her grey dress with a coordinating straw hat. The flat brimmed piece featured a wide straw wrap around the flat crown; from the front, the hat was streamlined and restrained. In contrast, the back of the brim raised slightly to reveal a mass of pink and silver blooms that nestled into the Queen’s hair. I adore this surprise around the back of the hat; the hidden blooms are reminiscent of the hat Beatrix wore to Princess Amalia’s christening which makes me guess that this piece is another design by Emmy Hill.
Princess Máxima (as was her title in 2005) wore one of her most memorable hats to this event. Made of stripes of transparent magenta and red straw, the wide brim of the picture hat was formed into large fluted ruffles that gave the Fabienne Delvigne design an incredible sense of movement and presence. On it’s own, the hat was a creative masterpiece but its pairing with Máxima’s shiny red coat and huge costume earrings took the ensemble way over the top. Máxima has not repeated this hat to date and I would love to see it make another outing with a more simple, neutral dress. As far as millinery goes, it is spectacular.
While I would love to see Máxima’s hat repeated, I’m pleased that Princess Laurentien’s hat has been left in the past. The Marianne Jongkind design, made of gold straw, featured a soaring, pointy crown and brim, each edged in brown straw. While the shape was unique, it overwhelmed the princess and looked like it was headed to a costume party instead of a royal wedding. Its pairing with her fussy brown dress and cartoonish belt seems like an experiment in avant garde fashion that went very wrong.
The daughters of Princess Irene (who was lecturing in South Africa and did not attend), Princess Carolina and Princess Margarita, wore much more demure pieces. Carolina topped her lilac printed jacket with a chic lavender hat with asymetrically raised brim; Margarita matched her dark raspberry straw hat to her skirt. While she did not wear a hat, Princess Mabel’s fashion choice had a very sentimental note- she wore the same dress Princess Beatrix wore for her engagement announcement in 1965.
Princess Christina wore an orange and coral feathered fascinator and her daughter, Juliana Guillermo, wore a headpiece of trailing copper feathers. While neither piece are particularly memorable, I adore that two family members chose hues of orange for this Orange-Nassau wedding.
The only guest from a foreign royal family was Princess Astrid of Belgium, who wore a sleek silver picture hat with cartwheel brim trimmed with a silk ribbon around the base of the crown. The austere hat combined beautifully with her textured Chanel suit, leaving no question that the ensemble was haute couture from head to toe.
The hats at this wedding covered the full spectrum from elegant to eccentric, exquisite to egregious. Keeping their age in mind, dear readers, I’m curious to hear which hats made the strongest style statement for you?
Photos from ANP; Michel Porro via Getty; and Getty as indicated
Royal Hats 
