Since beginning her royal life fourteen years ago, Queen Máxima’s vibrant and confident sense of style has certainly extended to her millinery. Surpassing even Queen Elizabeth, Máxima is currently our royal with the most red hats. Since beginning her royal life in 2002, we have seen her in seventeen different designs:
1. Embed from Getty Images 2.
Introduced: June 8, 2002; September 17, 2002
Designers: unknown; Philip Treacy
3.
Introduced: March 19, 2003- flower removed and hat worn again October 26, 2007; flower worn on it’s own as a headpiece June 22, 2017)
Designers: Fabienne Delvigne
4.
5.
6.Embed from Getty Images
Introduced: April 30, 2004; July 1, 2004; August 27, 2005
Designers: Fabienne Delvigne; unknown, Fabienne Delvigne
7.
8.
9.
Introduced: June 19, 2006; March 1, 2007; September 8, 2009
Designers: all are Fabienne Delvigne
10.
11.
12.
Introduced; October 9, 2010; November 3, 2011; May 22, 2012;
Designers: all are Fabienne Delvigne
13.
14.
Introduced: June 21, 2013; November 9, 2013;
Designers: both are Fabienne Delvigne
15.Embed from Getty Images 16.Embed from Getty Images 17.Embed from Getty Images
Introduced: September 16, 2014; October 1, 2014; March 20, 2015
Designers: all are Fabienne Delvigne
UPDATE: Since this post was published, Queen Máxima has added the following red hats to her wardrobe:
18.
Introduced: June 27, 2022
Designers: Fabienne Delvigne
Even with five turban-esque designs, there is still much diversity of millinery shapes and styles within this group. #2 remains one of my favourite royal fascinators of all time while #14 shows how effortlessly chic a Garbo hat can be. While #6, #7, #8 and #10 are living proof of Máxima’s immense millinery bravery, I’m drawn to the classic lines of #5, a hat that has curiously only been worn once (and one I’d love to see repeated). I continue to be amazed at how Queen Máxima’s style encompasses designs that are traditional as well as pieces that can only be described as avant garde and I can’t wait to see what red design she adds to this collection next. Which of these hats do you like on her best?
Photos from Jasper Juinen and Julian Parker via Getty; RoyalPress Nieboer/dpa/Corbis; Pier Marco Tacca, Julian Parker and Michel Porro via Getty; Corbis; Burak Kara via Getty; Corbis; Michel Porro via Getty; AP; Patrick van Katwijk via Getty
Royal Hats 
I love the diversity of millinery shapes and styles worn by Queen Maxima, and red is so flattering to her colouring. It’s the hat at photo 11 for the win! A close second is the hat at photo 14. The next best is the hat at photo 5. Then the next best is that hat at 3A. The next down is at photo 7. The best turbans are in photos 12 and 17. The remainder are good, wearable hats too except for the hat at photo 10, which lies too low on her forehead and I do not care for brimmed hats without crowns.
1st-hat 14
2nd-hat 11
3rd-hat 3B
4th-hat 3A
5th-hat 5
Hat 14 is the best hat here by far and if I could only pick one of these hats to own myself, I would take Hat 14. I also like all the other brimmed hats, and my second favorite choice would be Hat 11. Hat 7 is the best of the small hats, and I could see many people wearing this, myself included. I reckon Hat 12 is the best of the turban group. The only hats here that I don’t like are Hat 6, which is too zany for a Royal to wear; and hat 10, because I don’t like crownlessness. I really admire Queen Máxima’s chutzpah when it comes to her hats. She is one of my favorite Royals and a real Hat Queen!
Number 14 is my favourite but I do like number 10 as well even though crownless hats usually don’t get me excited. It just seems to match the summer vibe of the dress so well.
I like #3, 5, 11, and 14 best, although (to my surprise), I like #7 as well.
#6 makes me wonder whether you’ve ever done a Wackiest Royal Hats poll, HatQueen. This one is rivaled by one worn by a certain York princess, both at wedding appearances.
The closest were our least favourite hat polls in 2014 and 2013. Having a poll as you suggest is complicated because just about every hat worn in the 1980s (or 1960s!) looks wacky to us now! I also get the sense that readers are enjoying our monthly best polls (best new and repeated hats) so my plan is to stick with those this year. Stay tuned on Monday for our February polls!
For the record… I always thought #6 was an incredibly brave and striking design that took a lot of confidence to wear. I’m not sure I like it but I’m envious of Maxima’s ability to pull it off!
Yes, that’s certainly true about historical perspective. I’m looking forward to the February poll.
I don’t share your enthusiasm for #6, but it’s true that Maxima can carry off some amazing hats.
Scrolling trough this collection I was rather surprised that the majority of these hats don’t really excite me. Maybe it’s because I’m not a fan of turban-esque designs in general and they’re 5 of them in this list! I also wonder what hat #8 is all about. It look so weird! Is it some kind of flower piece?
But I’ll focus on the positive: I quite like #7, it’s original and a style we don’t see her wear very often. #11 is a classic Maxima design that she wears so well. But my absolute fave is #14.
Seeing #8 from the back might help- it’s actually a velvet turban with floral edging on the top. You can see it here.
All this does, as with any Max retrospective, is to convince me once more of just how fabulous she is. They don’t all work of course. But she’s got the chutzpah to carry then off. And yes, I do love number 6… But perhaps not with the stripper coat.
I always loved #6 (girl can BRING IT) but something was off. You’re TOTALLY right it’s the stripper coat! LMAO!
#7, #11, #15 are my favorites. I love Queen Maxima!
Such diversity, and yet I expect no less from Máxima! I absolutely ADORE #6, despite the fact most people find it offensive. To me, it is Máxima if she was a hat. What I wouldn’t give to see it out in public again (or on display in my apartment haha).
#5 looks like it would be a great hat for her, but in this photo it’s sitting way too far back on her head to do it justice. For a fascinator, I have long loved #2. Also, I can’t recall seeing #11 before, but that must be brought back out this spring! Disappointed we haven’t seen #14 for a while. Finally, I don’t care for turbans/calots/etc. because most of the time I don’t find them very flattering for Máxima; the exception to this is #16, but I think her side chignon helps pull this off.
As a final note, you can really tell through this inventory just how visibly comfortable she’s become in her royal role over the years. Brava!
I’ve liked many of Maxima’s hats. Evidently none of them were red. I scrolled back and forth several times and they all seem to be either too far back, or too high on her head ruining the effect (I guess). I love me some Maxima, but in this group I’ll have to choose the worst, and that is the worst dog of all, number 6.
What a huge, diverse collection of wonderful hats! Thank you for collecting all these photos!
I find it hard to like #10, the open top, but all the others have positive features, and many are just superb: 7, 2 and 8 particularly. Hat #6 on a royal head is hard to believe. The hats are matched not just to the color but to the style of the rest of the outfit. Fantastic!
My favorites are 2, both 3s, and 11. Queen Maxima looks great in anything that doesn’t hide her face. She has a fabulous smile and just seems to bubble over with joy.
Wow! What a collection! All of them fit HRH Máxima. But some of them are just ok and others are really wonderful.
One is really unusual on Màxima: the #7. The hat is beautiful but I cannot decide if It is a hit on her.
For the other I like, I cannot rank them: 11, 13, 14 and 15 are all my favorites. 🙂
Queen Maxima is probably my royal favorite, it’s that genuine gorgeous smile. She looks like she is having fun in all of them. Consider, who else do you know that can put a twisted cloth on their head, smile and carry it off. Lol. I just love her.
I admit to my bias: I love Queen Maxima and refuse to find fault with her! She wears hats well, and seems to enjoy them. I love that she tries all sorts of styles.
All that said, my favorites are: 1, both versions of 3, 5, 7, 11 and 14. I think #7 is my favorite. I love #6 for the outrageousness of it. I don’t really get 8 or 9. They might be better in context. Do you have any more pictures of 8? What was the occasion? It’s almost like a springtime or harvest festival headpiece. I’m not crazy about the turbans, berets or fascinators, but she wears them well. Look at that smile! xoxo
#7 is just gorgeous! But then Maxima looks good in nearly every hat that she wears – she has a bravery about her hat wearing!
She looks great in red though.
I don’t like 2,4,6.
2. The feathers that are sticking out don’t make it any better also don’t like it in general.
4. just ugh
6.To over the top
I love 3B.. would like to love 5 but it looks a bit off – is she wearing it too far back? I cannot like the one with a hole in its head – 10 – but isn’t it wonderful that between us we like ALL her hats!
A VERY BRAVE hat wearer, indeed.
Favorites: #11, 14, 2, 7
#5, she looks like she just fell off a turnip truck
I HATE #6: so “over the top,” literally and figuratively.
I dislike all the head-wraps, also.
My favorite hat of all time, of all the Queens in the world, is #6, the giant red and purple ruffled sensation. HURRAH MAXIMA FOR WEARING IT! BRING IT BACK!! That said I love # 10. It’s something I would be thrilled to wear in any color. The double split in the brim, which is thankfully not as big in scale as some others, and the open crown make this hat unique without being overwhelming.
She certainly has prooved to be the brave hat lady! Not sure which are my favs, but I know which one is my least fav – that giant number of flutter in # 6 – it looks like it belongs in a big stage production of Hello Dolly!
#5, #11, and #14. (I have a soft spot in my heart for #7 as well.) She appears to get great enjoyment out of wearing hats, and gives a great deal of enjoyment to the rest of us.
2 7 11 14 are my favourites. I would like to see a front view of 10. Her hair style governs a lot about how the hat looks and vice versa.
You can see several front views of hat #10 at this post.
I’m wondering, however, if you really were referring to #9? If so, you can see it here.
Aw I meant nine …the small red ..band…wondered what even would show in the front. I love red. Thank you .
2, 7, and 14 are my favorites.
I agree with you HQ on everything you stated. Personally, I find myself in love with no’s 1, the 3’s, 7 and 10. I may like 7 best of all. Close call. Hat 6 makes me feel happy and gave me a great big smile. Who doesn’t need that? And the Garbo. I love her in a Garbo but not quite sure about the red. They are every one good. Thank you HQ.