With the whole Swedish extended royal family gathering less than a month ago for the King’s 70th birthday, today’s christening of Prince Oscar was an understandably smaller affair. While Princess Birgitta and Princess Désirée did not make another trip to Stockholm, Princess Margaretha popped over from her home in the UK for the event. She wore a dark taupey-grey fascinator of straw bow loops and leaves with coordinating feathers that was an excellent colour match for her printed dress. It’s not the most exciting of headpieces but it worked well for her.
Princess Christina repeated her infamous black helicopter hat. After being voted our least favourite royal hat of the year three years ago, I hoped not to see this one again. I’m all for creative expression in millinery but this design simply defies good sense.
Designer: unknown
Previously Worn: September 15, 2013
Vicky Magnuson, wife of Princess Christina’s oldest son Gustaf, topped her yellow lace suit with a black headpiece. In very light black straw, the large tear-drop shaped piece is trimmed by a black feather pinwheel in front and a black feather spray at the back. I like the sense of movement in this piece provided by the feather trim and the way the wide edging creates a sharp finish and contrasts with the transparent straw. It’s an interesting piece that Vicky wore well but I wished it had been paired with almost anything except this yellow suit.
Emma Magnuson, who is married to Princess Christina’s middle son Oscar (one of Prince Oscar’s godparents), topped her pale blue lace dress with a matching straw hat. The disk shaped straw hat is trimmed with a large bow which is edged in white stripes. I want to like this piece- Emma looks great in blue- but the stripes on that bow have me seeing only Adidas.
Frida Bergström, partner of Princess Christina’s youngest son Victor, topped her navy and white ensemble with a taupe straw fascinator of multiple bow loops, straw leaves and feathers. From close view, the neutral headpiece was a good match for Frida’s navy and white ensemble but from a distance her jacket reads much more grey than blue and I’m afraid the ensemble suffered from competing neutrals. I certainly don’t expect more distant royal cousins to keep up with latest millinery styles but I’m so done with this style of straw fascinator and really want to see something different.
One of my favourite ensembles of the day was worn by Countess Jill Bernadotte (wife of Count Bertil Bernadotte af Wisborg). Jill topped her striking taupe and cream silk suit with a calot-based cocktail hat covered in taupe silk that is trimmed lavishly with feathers and net tulle veil. It’s a fun ensemble and I loved how the purple undertones in the hat’s feather trim coordinated with her necklace. Matching feathers to jewels is always a good thing.
Countess Marianne Bernadotte also wore a matched hat and suit combination. Made of pale yellow silk covered in ivory lace, her beret-base cocktail hat is trimmed in a large bow. In this case, I much prefer the exquisite coat dress to the hat (which feels overly twee to me) but the use of the same fabric and lace create a very unified ensemble.
Countess Marianne was seated with Mrs. Dagmar von Arbin (granddaughter of Prince Oscar Bernadotte) who just celebrated her 100th birthday and is currently the oldest member of the Swedish extended royal family. Her pillbox hat is covered in pink and purple silk blooms and wrapped with a net tulle veil. It is a perfect spring hat that I thought Dagmar wore, beautifully.
Designer: unknown
Previously Worn: May 22, 2012
Almost no information was released about these Swedish royal hats, leaving me to guess that most of them were new for this event. There are some beauties here to be sure (and one I wish was retired to its helicopter hangar) so as I draw coverage of this wonderful event to a close, I can only ask which millinery designs today in Sweden were your favourites?
Jump over to this post to see the hats worn by royal guests and this post for those worn by the Swedish royals.
Photos from Getty as indicated; Rex Features; Jonas Ekstromer, Olle Sporung, Maja Suslin, Pontus Lundahl and Anna-Karin Nilsson via TT News Agency
Royal Hats 
Margaretha looked nice and the taupe stands out against her silver hair, but it’s nothing exciting. Christina, dear Lord, what was she and the milliner thinking when this was created? And that it has been worn more than once?!
I think Vicky Magnuson looked quite nice in the black fascinator and yellow dress; since they are both solid colors, it works for me. Emma Magnuson was one of my favorites of the day; I personally love the bow on her disc fascinator, but not so much loving the shift-style dress. If this dress had more of a waistline, I would love this ensemble even more. Frida Bergström looked fine, but I wasn’t impressed.
Countess Jill Bernadotte looked quite lovely in her cocktail hat and coordinated outfit; I especially love the purple jewels. I think Countess Marianne is one of the few people who can pull off this matching cocktail hat and outfit; I think it’s a wonderful ensemble. And Mrs. Dagmar, how great she is at 100, still going strong and showing up in this fun, albeit slightly crazy, pillbox that almost certainly is truly vintage (or at least made from vintage pieces).
Again, not a lot of color and some uninspiring pieces, but definitely some fun ones as well.
Interesting haul of hats – I think Countess Marianne’s hat’s bow borders on looking like horns! Bravo to Countess Jill Bernadotte. I personally don’t dislike the stripes on Emma Magnuson’s hat. The color is great on her. And unlike you, I quite like black with bright yellow on Vicky Magnuson, but then I am always a fan of yellow.
I like yellow… just not with black accessories. Can we say BUMBLEBEE?! Put this suit with grey or cream accessories and it would be so much better.
Princess Christina’s hat is baffling.
Agreed that the other black hat is lovely, but not with bright yellow.
Mrs. Von Arbin looks lovely. The color is a treat with all those neutrals.
They all looked really find.
“Likes” from this bunch= Margrethe, Vicky, Emma, Frida, and Dagmar. I am just amazed by Christina’s hat – judging from these pics, she clearly cannot see where she is going.
Thank you HatQueen for your excellent coverage of this event. It has been interesting and fun!
Three cheers for Mrs. Von Arbin for bringing a real breath of spring to the day! If I should live to be one hundred years old, I hope I would have as much spunk. Princess Christina really needs to bin that hat. I don’t even know how she can see with it. It’s the equivalent of an eye patch worn for no good reason. Some of the other hats also make me scratch my head. “Matching” beige with blue seems to above been a theme. Both Princess Sofia and Frida B. tried this. For me it is a bit of an “easy way out” that doesn’t really work. Countess Marianne is always elegant, and this is no exception. I could go on, but I think I have said enough!