On Wednesday, Princess Beatrix was in Oldebroek to open a restored windmill. Her hat for this occasion is a bit of a surprise- in grey and blue straw, this design features a flat crown and double upturned brim accented with black piping. We seldom see two toned hats (especially on Beatrix) and while I’m not sure I like the double brim, it’s an interesting piece that keeps drawing me in for another look.
Previously Worn: This hat is new
Yesterday, Princess Beatrix attended conference on the 30th anniversary of CoMensha, an organization that specialises in human trafficking. She repeated a dark navy hat with domed crown wrapped in layers of wide straw ribbon. The effect of this pseudo-brim creates a hybrid shape with the straight sides of a pillbox and the indented crown and high brim of a bumper. In the end, it’s another one of Beatric’s ‘cake’ hats, this time in blueberry with stripes of icing round the side.
Royal Hats 
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Princess Beatrice always dresses exquisitely – the fabrics and the cut of her clothes are always impeccable, and I do not mind her choice of hat. But I must say that first hat looks like two hats stacked on top of each other! HatQueen it would be fun to do a post on her hats over the years – although it might be horribly repetitive!
Just to clarify this is Princess Beatrix (Princess Beatrice is a York princess, sister to Eugenie). I did a retrospective of Princess Beatrix’s hats for her 75th birthday several years ago- see Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.
The blue and gray hat does look as though it contains two pieces. Just for variety I keep wanting to separate them and reassemble in the other order. Just think of all the combinations that could be made if all of Princess Beatrix’s cake hats were made of multiple interchangeable pieces.
I like both hats, maybe because they are a variation on the theme that she is currently enjoying. The two-toned one is a definite departure and while I’m not crazy about the gray, it’s an interesting combo.
The second one, the navy with the swirling ribbon trim, is more of her standard hat but the swirl ending in front adds visual interest.
I see that her hofdame is wearing a large navy pillbox in both outings. Probably a safe hat choice when accompanying the Princess!
I like the first hat for something different! Her second hat is much more standard, and while it looks good, it seems like she’s been wearing a lot of darker colored hats in very similar shapes, especially in blue, and not bringing out as many of the fun ones. Perhaps this is because she’s no longer queen and doesn’t want to outshine Máxima (which she’s in no danger of doing), but I do miss the fun colors and variety of shapes from 5-10 years ago.
Is Princess Beatrix wearing a suit in the first engagement. From the front it appears to be two-piece. Anyway, attractive, although I’m not sure about the two-toned hat. For the second engagement, everything goes well together for me and I like the hat better.
I am a fan of Beatrix, but those dreadful hats have to go! She always looks good, but I think the oversized hats ruin her look. They overwhelm her small frame.
This has become ‘her’ signature millinery look and I’m afraid, they are here to stay!
Princess Beatrix is a lady who takes a lot of care with her appearance, clothing, shoes, jewelry, hair, everything just so. I wish she would switch to a smaller, prettier hat style. The blue hat featured above at least has a lighter feel to it when seen close up. The blue and gray looks like two hats nested together.
She has reached that age when she wears what she knows suits her and she is comfortable wearing. These bumper hats look good on her and I am amazed at the number of ways she changes the look of these hats simply with a color or tweak of the brim. A very sophisticated lady.
Her millinery style really is 1001 variations on one theme, isn’t it?! You make a good point- her milliner, Suzanne Moulijn, uses incredibly subtle tweaks to make each hat different. Princess Beatrix has an incredible number of blue hats, each a little different from the other. It makes my job both difficult and interesting!
She has found her style a long time ago, I like that the shape stays the same and can stil have so many creative changes , she always looks good.
Princess Beatrice seems to wear these kind of styled hats very frequently. Did she wear this style when she was younger (as in late 40s/50s)?
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I like Beatrix’s hat shapes – but for me the colours of these 2 hats are problematic.
The grey one needs a warm-coloured dress/coat to lift and to counteract the deadening effect of this grey on a mature and delicate skin – just as Alexandra has so successfully demonstrated in the previous post. Unfortunately, the white in the first dress is too harsh for Beatrix, making her skin look yellow and waxen, and this gorgeous hat appear dull and uninteresting.
The second dress is also not right with the navy hat. The blue-and-white print is too bright and summery making the hat choice look uninspired, wintry and heavy. This dress needs a much more lively, lighter-coloured hat. However, the navy hat does make a statement when worn with a solid dark colour, such as the matching navy cape worn on its previous outing in 2012
I LOVE both dresses on her, and the shoes and jewelry she wears with them! The blue/grey combination hat is interesting and looks nice..I like the navy straw better! The princess always is so stylish and pretty without looking too youthful!