On Friday, Queen Sonja was in Halden to celebrate the town’s 350th anniversary. For these festivities, she wore an ivory felt cloche hat trimmed with monochromatic felt leaves at the side. It’s a very streamlined hat and I thought its pairing with the brass buttoned ivory cape looked quite smashing on the Norwegian Queen.
Designer: unknown
Previously Worn: I believe this hat is new
Photos from Terje Pedersen / NTB scanpix via The Royal House of Norway
Infanta Elena at the procession of Cristo de los Alabardos last weekend (Royalista)
Members of Monaco’s Royal Family remembered Prince Rainier, who passed away 10 years ago this week (Paris Match)
Queen Sonja wore wore a beret hat with grommets earlier this week to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the ‘Scandinavian Star’ tragedy (Paris Match)
Princess Eugenie out and about in New York (The Daily Mail)
Wonderful photos from the exhibition of Queen Margrethe’s dresses (Glittering Royal Events Message Board) and a gallery of the Danish Royals’ formal finery at Wednesday’s gala concert in Aarhus (Getty)
The Spanish King and Queen with their daughters on Easter Sunday last weekend (Blog Real)
Two drawings done by King George V and his younger sister Princess Victoria when they were children recently went up for sale (Paul Fraser Collectibles)
The Japanese Emperor and Empress touched down in Tokyo Thursday night after their two day trip to Palau. For their trip home, Empress Michiko wore a new navy saucer hat trimmed with a flat fan bow in navy and gold. The hat perfectly matched the Empress’ navy and gold suit and the gold accent on the bow of the hat echoed the sharp contrast of this fabric on her jacket. While the saucer shape follows all of Michiko’s other hats, the bold colour combination and graphic use of the gold accent is another major departure in her millinery style. I think this is a successful departure and, in a great twist of royal hat fortunes, I can’t wait to see what hat Empress Michiko wears next.
Designer: unknown
Previously Worn: this hat is new
Photos from Getty as indicated
Crown Princess Mary of Danmark marked the 75th anniversary of the German occupation of Denmark today with a visit to a memorial to this event in Aabenraa.
Princess Mary repeated her grey felt hat with flat crown and upturned ‘slice’ brim. The proportion of this hat has always been beautiful on Mary and I adore the strong shapes of the square crown and diagonal brim. With Mary’s black jacquard tailored coat and dress, the hat adhered to the sombre note of the day’s events while giving the ensemble a light touch.
Desiger: Susanne Juul
Previously Worn: October 20, 2012; October 2, 2009
Photos from Splash News, Splash News, Splash News, Splash News,Splash News, and Splash News, all via Corbis
Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko of Japan travelled to the South Pacific island of Palau for two days of events commemorating World War II victims. This commemoration precedes the 70th anniversary of Japan’s surrender, which takes place this summer. For their Tokyo departure and arrival on the island on Wednesday, Empress Michiko topped her grey suit and beautiful cream tiered coat with a new cream saucer hat. The hat was trimmed in a pair of flat bows in a crisp cream and grey stripe and some small cream blossoms. I particularly liked how the graphic nature of the hat echoed Michiko’s horizontally tiered coat.
Yesterday, the Imperial couple visited the West Pacific Ocean Monument to the War Dead, spoke to veterans and saw Orange Beach, the site where the U.S. military landed at Peleliu Island.
For these memorial events, the Empress wore large cream saucer hat with lace trim and a narrow lattice brim around the perimeter of the hat. The hat was embellished with a folded bow in dove grey silk to match Empress Michiko’s jacket lapel. The hat is more intricately embellished than many of the Empress’ other pieces and I thought the delicate lace detail added an exquisite touch.
Memorial visits such as this one can be tough to strike the right royal fashion balance between. As always, the Empress’ ensembles were elegant and very appropriate. The hat she wore today is a departure from her regular millinery, which sometimes borders on the austere. It was a beautiful hat on Her Imperial Highness and makes me hopeful about what we might see her wear next.
Photos from Getty as indicated
Royal Hats 