Several members of the British Royal Family attended a garden party today at Buckingham Palace in honour of the 150th anniversary of the children’s charity, Barnardo’s. The Duchess of Cornwall led the group in her massive pink straw picture hat with gently raised brim. The brim shape is the only gentle thing about this piece, which is lavishly trimmed in silk cabbage roses, feather ‘leaf’ sprays, spiralled feather spines and sweeping loops and waves of silk ribbon. While the hat is all about grand excess, Camilla manages (thanks, in part, to a spectacular necklace) to own the piece instead of being dwarfed by it. That’s no small millinery feat.
Designer: Philip Treacy
Previously Worn: June 15, 2014; June 19, 2012; June 7, 2011; August 15, 2010; June 12, 2010; June 17, 2009
Previously Worn: June 15, 2014; June 19, 2012; June 7, 2011; August 15, 2010; June 12, 2010; June 17, 2009
Princess Alexandra repeated her ice blue straw hat with tall crown wrapped in coordinating net tulle while the Duchess of Gloucester wore her raspberry straw hat with tulle trim sash and back bow. While both hats look a little plain compared to Camilla’s millinery extravaganza, they each worked with their wearers’ blue ensembles and were perfectly reasonable choices for a garden party.
Designer of Princess Alexandra’s hat: Rachel Trevor Morgan
Previously Worn: June 13, 2015; May 20, 2015; October 18, 2011; May 8, 2010
Designer of the Duchess of Gloucester’s hat: unknown
Previously Worn: June 17, 2015; June 13, 2015; June 17, 2014
Previously Worn: June 13, 2015; May 20, 2015; October 18, 2011; May 8, 2010
Designer of the Duchess of Gloucester’s hat: unknown
Previously Worn: June 17, 2015; June 13, 2015; June 17, 2014
I’m curious to hear your thoughts. Camilla’s hat is a lot.. but is it too much?
Photos from Getty as indicated; The British Monarchy and The British Monarchy
Royal Hats 
All fine.
Just echoing everyone else that Camilla’s hat works so well on Camilla, at this type of event. And I also want to say how lucky it is for us hat-watchers that there is a member of the Royal Family who is both senior enough, confident enough and has the right build and hair to wear such large-scale and flamboyant hats, as it adds so much to the royal scene!
Everything Bristol said!
I think this works well for the event – and have to say, my eyes went to the necklace first before the hat!
Camilla might possibly be the one royal who is incapable of “too much”, though MrFitzroy makes an excellent point about being appropriate for the occasion. All the ladies look wonderful, and I love the color coordination! All three belong on the best repeats poll.
Love all three hats.
I’m with the “love it” bandwagon!
I wonder if the three ladies coordinated their colors– they go so well together. They all look great and I agree that there might be something to the idea that they don’t want to steal the show from the main player, be it the Queen or Camilla in this case, not that Camilla’s hat could be beaten!
I really like the raspberry color of Birgitta’s hat. I like how she ties it in to her outfit with her ruby jewelry and lipstick. It’s not a show stopper but it looks good. It stands out a bit because it’s not the same color as her clothes.
This is the first time I have noticed this pink hat on Camilla and I love it. Her personality certainly carries it and she along with Alexandra and Brigette were fantastic in their hats!
I love it!
Me too.
For a wedding, a bit much. For a thanksgiving service, over the top. For a BuckHouse charity tea, Yes. Please.
Nobody else could make this work quite as well as the D of C. One almost expects there to be an ostrich feather tucked in there someplace as well.
The other ladies look marvelous, with hats just right as featured players to Camilla’s brassy west end showstopper!
And, as Jake says, it is indeed good to lose this one in the back of the wardrobe for a couple years and have it reemerge fresh! MrFitzroy looks forward to seeing it again in 2018.
This hat is a masterpiece! It could easily dwarf most women, but Camilla has the personality (and hair) to own it. In the hands of anyone other than Treacy it would fail, but it’s wonderful. And Camilla clearly agrees as its oft repeated; although I like that she gets good wear from her hats, I like a bit of thrift.
All three ladies look lovely and garden party-tactic in my book!
All three of these hats reflect the personality of their wearer perfectly. For a while I got tired of seeing this hat on Camilla because she repeated it so often, but since it’s been almost 2 years since she last wore it, I love it once more!
Alexandra’s hat is definitely less fussy than Camilla’s, and Birgitte’s even moreso, but they are both still appropriate for the occasion; because these two hats are much plainer, Camilla’s seems more over-the-top, but I don’t think it is.
I’m glad to see all three of these ladies out again so soon. Looks like a busy late spring/early summer for the British royals!