British Royals Visit Scottish Air Force Squadron

Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh visited the headquarters of the Royal Auxiliary Air Force’s (RAuxAF) 603 Squadron in Edinburgh yesterday. For the final hat worn during her week in Scotland, the Queen repeated the fuchsia hat she first wore last year at Ascot. With a square, silk covered crown and light straw brim, edged in a wide stripe of silk, the hat is trimmed with a spray of light pink flowers studded within fuchsia and black striped feathers. I really like the shape of this hat on the Queen and adore the mixed use of silk and straw, which is so well balanced in this piece. The tiny pink flowers have always seemed out of place to me on this piece but is a minor quibble on a hat where the colour is glorious on Queen Elizabeth and the proportion is great. It was great to see this piece again.

Embed from Getty Images Embed from Getty Images
Embed from Getty Images
Embed from Getty Images

Designer: Angela Kelly
Previously Worn: June 20, 2015
It has been over a year since we saw this hat. What did you think of it on this, its second outing?
Photos from Getty as indicated

This Week’s Extras

Royal Hats

Queen Elizabeth spent her annual week in Scotland this week in residence at Holyrood Palace. While photos of her engagements have been scarce, the four hats she wore were as follows:

Tuesday:  Arrival in her pink and green hat by Angela Kelly (British Monarchy)

Wednesday: A lavender Angela Kelly hat to host a garden party at her official Scottish residence. The Princess Royal and Earl of Wessex were also in attendance (British Monarchy)

ThursdayOne of my favourite pink Rachel Trevor Morgan hats on a visit to the Scottish Veterans’ Garden City Association’s new housing development for disabled veterans (British Monarchy)

Queen Elizabeth, July 2, 2015 in Rachel Trevor Morgan

Friday:  Angela Kelly’s white textured straw hat with periwinkle blue trim for a visit to the University of Strathclyde and the South Glasgow University Hospital & Royal Hospital for Sick Children (British Monarchy)

Princess Kiko wore a demure white bowler hat at the Rice Planting Festival in Kagawa (Imperial Family of Japan Blog)

Queen Silvia in a black feathered calot hat for the funeral of her and the King’s friend Magnus Härenstam (Aftonbladet)

Royal Hats

Great video from the King of Tonga’s coronation this week. The Crown Prince and Princess of Japan attended and Masko looked fantastic (The Royal Correspondent)

Snippets from an interview with Prince Albert of Monaco this week, reflecting on his 10 year reign (Monaco Reporter). On a less serious note, he was witness at a scuba wedding this week (La Repubblica)

Stay tuned later today for a look at the lovely hats worn at Princess Charlotte’s christening!

Greek Royal Wedding 20 Years On: Royal Guests

The wedding of a crown prince of any nation is usually cause for a major royal celebration. While Crown Prince Pavlos of Greece, Prince of Denmark did not marry in either of the nations where he holds princely title, his wedding to Marie-Chantal Miller on July 1, 1995 was a grand event nonetheless.

Along with the queens on the groom’s side of the family (Queen Anne-Marie, Queen Margrethe and Queen Sofia), Queen Elizabeth, Queen Silvia of Sweden, Queen Noor of Jordan and Grand Duchess Josephine of Luxembourg all attended this event. Queen Elizabeth wore a very pretty lavender hat with pleated straw crown while Queen Silvia wore a pink picture hat with white pleated crin brim. Grand Duchess Josephine topped her graphic black and white striped suit with a white straw hat with gently curved brim.

Queen Noor wore a white straw hat in the shape of an oversize cloche. The bell brim was further enlarged by a huge bow at the back of the hat. Of all the hats worn at this wedding, I think think this one is most ‘stuck’ in the millinery fashion of the time.Queen Noor, July 1, 1995 | Royal HatsPrincess Maria Teresa, Hereditary Grand Duchess of Luxembourg (as she was known then) wore a beige silk headband with bow at the side while Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden, who was still a teenager, wore a large white hat with squared crown and wide upturned stripe of black straw around the brim.
Hereditary Grand Duchess Maria Teresa, July 1, 1995 | Royal Hats Crown Princess Victoria, July 1, 1995 | Royal Hats
Princess Alexandra of Kent wore a  pale green hat with tall crown trimmed with a mass of green feathers around the base of the crown. It is a style of hat we see on Alexandra still today and one that is just so quintessentially her. tThe Duchess of Marlborough topped her sky blue suit and lacy blouse with a white hat wrapped in pleated swaths of organdie. I believe Princess Michael of Kent was also in attendance although I have been unable to locate a photo of her hat.
Princess Alexandra of Kent, July 1, 1995 | Royal Hats  Duchess of Marlborough, July 1, 1995 | Royal Hats
Empress Farah of Iran and her daughter-in-law Princess Yasmin, both wore hats trimmed with large bows. While Farah’s hat had a square crown and larger crown than Yasmine’s hat, which had a smaller cartwheel shaped brim, I think both hats are perfect examples of 1990s millinery fashion.
Empress Farah and Princess Yasmine, July 1, 1995 | Royal Hats
Princess Marina of Savoy (now Princess of Naples) memorably wore a large navy picture hat trimmed with a wide swath of coordinating feathers. The hat on its own is a bold look but paired with her feather hemmed dress, is almost beyond description. In comparison, the Duchess of Bragança, who had married the Duke earlier in 1995, was more conservatively dressed in a pistachio green suit and matching floral trimmed hat.
Princess Marina of Savoy, July 1, 1995 | Royal Hats Duchess of Bragança, July 1, 1995 | Royal Hats
Queen Margarita of Bulgaria wore an interesting domed hat in natural straw trimmed by a slim burgundy ruffle near the top of the crown. Her daughter-in-law Carla, the Princess of Panagyurishte, wore a simple cream straw hat.
Queen Marie, July 1, 1995 | Royal Hats 1995-01-07 Pavlos & MC wedding 54
The Princess of Vidin topped a pale blue and brown flowered suit with a chocolate straw hat. The brim on the front of the hat was curled back to the crown, leaving a halo around her face. Rosario, The Princess of Preslav, wore a large straw picture hat. With a beige square crown and white curved brim, edged in a wide beige stripe, the hat coordinated well with Rosario’s beige and white Valentino dress. Princess Kalina, who attended with Prince Laurent of Belgium, wore a characteristically unusual outfit, pairing a floppy natural straw picture hat with an embroidered, slinky bias cut dress.
That concludes our look back at the Greek Royal Wedding! I am most curious to hear your thoughts on the hats worn by these royal guests. And, I’m sure you join me in wishing Crown Prince Pavlos and Princess Marie-Chantal a very happy 20th anniversary.
Greek Royal wedding, July 1, 1995 | Royal Hats
Photos from The Royal Forums and Getty as indicated

Greek Royal Wedding 20 Years On: Families

Prince Pavlos and Marie-Chantal Miller, July 1, 1995 | Royal HatsRoyal Hats

When Crown Prince Pavlos of Greece, Prince of Denmark, married Marie-Chantal Miller on July 1, 1995, the event was a family affair. Because of the Greek royal family’s close relations to several other royal houses, that also made it a major royal event. Here is a look at the hats worn at this wedding by members of the couple’s families.

Queen Anne-Marie topped her sea foam green silk coat with a straw headpiece in the same hue. With an open top, the headpiece wrapped in a circle around her head and was trimmed with a wide straw ribbon tails on the side.

Queen Anne-Marie, July 1, 2015 | Royal Hats

Queen Anne-Marie, July 1, 2015 | Royal Hats  Queen Anne-Marie, July 1, 2015 | Royal Hats

Princess Alexia wore a wide brimmed hat in natural straw while Princess Theodora, as bridesmaid, wore a floral wreath in her hair. Both Alexia and and Queen Anne-Marie were dressed by London-based Austrian designer Inge Spronson.

Greek Royal Family, July 1, 2015 | Royal Hats

The mother of the bride, Chantal Miller, matched Queen Anne-Marie’s ensemble in a hat and dress in sea foam green topped by a pale peach hand embroidered and beaded Valentino couture coat. The hat followed the shape of a ruched turban at the back but was brimmed with a halo brim around the front that framed Mrs. Miller’s face. Trimmed with a stylized silk flower, the chic hat has a wonderful sense of movement that almost draws my attention away from her pearls.

Chantal Miller, June 1, 2015 | Royal Hats  Chantal Miller, June 1, 2015 | Royal Hats

Princess Marie-Chantal’s two sisters, Alexandra Miller and Pia Getty wore what I suspect were very fashion-forward hats for the time. Pia’s round burgundy percher hat was edged in scalloped pink ribbon and trimmed with a spray of pink and burgundy feathers at the back. While this hat shape is familiar to us now, it was a very avant garde millinery look 20 years ago that left me wondering at the time if she had stuck a cushion on her head.  Alexandra toped her blue suit with what can only be described as a pink headscarf, worn as a headband and loosely tied in a bow behind her ear. This headpiece (if you can call it that) has always left me scratching my own head.

Pia Getty and Alexandra Miller, July 1, 1995 | Royal Hats

Princess Benedikte, July 1, 1995 | Royal Hats

Looking at the groom’s extended family- Queen Anne-Marie’s sister, Princess Benedikte of Denmark (above, right) wore a large rose pink hat with high ‘slice’ brim that folded up over the square crown on one side. We see these ‘slice’ brim picture hats often these days but I suspect it turned heads at the time. Their mother, Queen Ingrid of Denmark, wore a memorable hat in sky blue. With a traditional round crown, the brim of the hat was wider around the front and folded up to frame Queen Ingrid’s face. The straw was light embroidered in monochrome blue vines and embellished with a small spray of flowers at the side. We seldom see patterned royal hats and this one still stands out in my mind as a unique piece.

Queen Ingrid, July 1, 1995 | Royal Hats   Queen Ingrid, July 1, 1995 | Royal Hats

Queen Margrethe, the eldest of Queen Ingrid’s three daughters, also wore an unusual and distinctive hat. Her headpiece, in steely blue straw,  featured a large disc atop a calot base. The disc was sliced to the radius at the top of the headpiece- a large bow was placed in the slice, leaving one side of the bow visible on top of the hat and the other, behind the back of it (which also curled up that side of the disc). A spray of silk violets completed the striking hat.

Queen Margrethe, July 1, 1995 | Royal Hats   Queen Margrethe, July 1, 1995 | Royal Hats

While King Constantine’s sister, Queen Sofia of Spain, did not wear a hat, her daughters  Infanta Elena and Infanta Christina both topped their dress suits with simple cream picture hats.

Infanta Elena, July 1, 1995 | Royal Hats   Infanta Cristina, July 1, 1995 | Royal Hats

Looking at these hats today, I am surprised how current many of them seem. Which ones stand out most to you?

Greek Royal wedding, July 1, 1995 | Royal Hats

Photos from The Greek Royal Family; The Royal Forums; and Lord Lichfield via Getty