Prince Carlos and Princess Annemarie of Bourbon Parma hosted numerous events in Piacenza and Parma, Italy this weekend in celebration of their son’s christening. At a mass on Saturday held at Santa Maria della Steccata Basilica, Prince Carlos officially ‘showed’ little Prince Carlos Enrique to the people of Piacenza. For this event, Princess Annemarie topped a draped blue chiffon dress with a twisted white silk headpiece.
— Albert Nieboer Photography / Royal Press Europe (@Royaleurope) September 24, 2016
Designer: Eudia Previously Worn: I believe this headpiece is new
For the christening yesterday, Princess Annemarie chose a dress and cocktail hat in a deeper shade of blue. The hat features a beret base trimmed with a large flat bow and swath of crin that encircles most of the design like a sort of flying brim. It’s a lovely colour on Annemarie but the near vertical placement was awkward- I would have much preferred to see this piece placed up and forward, perched down over her hairline on the right side of her forehead.
— Albert Nieboer Photography / Royal Press Europe (@Royaleurope) September 25, 2016
Designer: Eudia Previously Worn:This hat is new
Queen Máxima used this occasion to debut a new hat with interesting history. During her June 10 visit to Urk, local milliner Hoedenhuis Kaptein gave it to her as a gift.
While we don’t often see gifted items wore publicly, Queen Máxima surprised yesterday by wearing this hat. In pale grey straw, this design features an intended crown and slightly curved brim; it is trimmed with a white hat band and small grey bow at the side with trailing tails. I really like the strong shape of this piece on Máxima – we see so many repeated shapes on her and it’s wonderful to see something completely different- and think it could be a great design for her but I’m not sure its pairing with her delicate teal lace Dolce & Gabbana dress showed the hat to its best. I think this is an occasion where the individual pieces of this ensemble work better separately than they do together.
King Willem-Alexander, Queen Máximaand princesses Amalia, Alexia & Ariane in Parma for christening of Prince Carlos de Bourbon de Parme pic.twitter.com/Pc0n7p1RTx
— Albert Nieboer Photography / Royal Press Europe (@Royaleurope) September 25, 2016
Designer: Hoedenhuis Kaptein Urk Previously Worn: This hat is new
Princess Viktoria was the only other member of the Bourbon Parma family in millinery of any description, a small pink fascinator floral pouf made from heat shaped petals. The scale feels too small for her and it’s far too twee for my liking, particularly in combination with her clunky heart shaped necklace.
Designer: unknown Previously Worn: I believe this headpiece is new
It is always lovely to see hats at this type of royal family event, even though I would have liked small tweaks on each of the ensembles we saw yesterday. Did any hats here stand out to you? And what do you think about Queen Máxima wearing a gifted piece?
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge touched down this afternoon in Victoria, the capital of the Canadian province of British Columbia, with their children in tow. The entire family were dressed in shades of blue to kick off their visit to Western Canada, with Kate in the most marvellous new hat.
Made of felt in a moulded saucer shape, this design is lavishly trimmed with maple leaves (the national emblem of Canada) and a central bloom made up of multiple bow loops and blue seed pearls. While we have seen a similar design on Kate before (remember this red version for the Diamond Jubilee Flotilla?), this piece stands out thanks to the vibrant shade of blue- a colour which is fantastic on the young Duchess. I particularly like how the well-embellished hat provides a beautiful counterpoint to Kate’s refined and very sleek dress.
Because this tour is full of more informal events, I did not expect to see such a formal hat on Kate for today’s arrival. Thank goodness I was wrong – I think this is one of her best looks to date.
And speaking of the Cambridges- they are due to arrive in my part of the world this afternoon. Here is their detailed itinerary for the coming week (Government of Canada). Before you get your hopes us- this will be a fairly informal tour and I don’t expect to see Kate in anything more formal that a fishing hat.
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.
Designer: unconfirmed. It looks like Suzanne Moulijn 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.
Princess Alexandra opened the New Victoria Foundation Wing and the Charles Hutton Day Unit at the New Victoria Hospital yesterday (interestingly, 30 years after she opened the Alexandra Ward at the same hospital!). For this event, she wore a mushroom grey hat with straight sided, dome crown trimmed with a wide hatband in the same charcoal dotted print as her skirt. While I wish the crown on this design was a little lower (and the hat band was either flat or much more ruched), I do like the chic grey and pink colour scheme of her ensemble.
Royal Hats 