Members of the British Royal Family gathered at Chester Cathedral yesterday to attend a memorial service for Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor, 6th Duke of Westminster, who died on August 9, 2016. The Duchess of Westminter wore a black felt hat with gently upsweeping brim and tall crown, trimmed with a large felt rose and wide silk hatband.
The Duchess of Cornwall repeated her black wool hat with ruched crown and faux fur trimmed brim.
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Previously Worn: March 16, 2016; March 18, 2015; March 13, 2015; December 10, 2013; February 7, 2012; February 6, 2012; January 27, 2012
The Duchess of Cambridge repeated the black felt hat with upwept brim she debuted on Remembrance Sunday. The pairing of this hat with Kate’s wool and velvet Alexander McQueen coat is a stunning one that beatifully highlights the contrasting velvet underbrim and hatband on the coat. Kate and her stylist do so well at mixing the pieces in her wardrobe and this pairing is just exquisite.
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Princess Eugenie wore what is described by the designer as a design in “deep purple velvety felt in a 1950s wide-brimmed shape with a shallow crown. Trimmed with violet and bronze leaves wrapping around the brim”. The hat is a beautiful colour and scale on Eugenie- she should wear purple more often! At first glance, I wondered about the pairing of this hat with her teal coat but if you scroll down to the very last picture in this post, you’ll see that the coat is actually black.
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Princess Alexandra repeated her tall crowned black wool hat trimmed with a ruched hatband and piping on the brim’s edge, both in the same crushed black velvet as her coat’s collar.
Duchess of Gloucester repeated her black velvet bumper hat with silk ribbon trim on the side. Her daughter, Lady Rose Gilman, wore a simple, black, wide brimmed fedora.
Previously Worn: November 8, 2016; November 10, 2014
Princess Michael of Kent wore a large black felt hat with upturned kettle brim.
Photos from Getty as indicated
Royal Hats 
Dearest Hat Queen, autocorrect failed you twice -the headline reads Duke of “Westminter” instead of “Westminster”.
I think Kate nailed this one, elegant & for once, McQueen well tailored (or at least you can’t see the fails in black).
Camilla’s hat too casual for the occasion (a duke’s funeral after all), but love seeing her picking up a program -she gets a pass for that. Princess A’s velvet ruching saved from the same effect by a firm base material.
Eugenie needs a new stylist -a pudding bag tied in the middle. Even a gorgeous hat can’t save that look.
My favorite hat is the Duchess of Cambridge’s, and I agree that it goes better with this coat than with the one on Remembrance Day. However, I’m in beachgal’s camp in thinking this coat is way too busy with stripes, sleeve complications, belt, rows of buttons, pocket flaps… I prefer the Duchess of Gloucester’s coat with its streamlined shape, single line of buttons and small touches of silk in collar and cuffs. That, in my opinion, is pure elegance.
My second favorite hat is Princess Eugenie’s purple one, mostly because it’s something new, young and modern. I find it dramatic but not in an ostentatious way. And as purple is a color associated with mourning and remembrance (the liturgical color for Lent and the current season of Advent), I think it is perfectly appropriate for the occasion.
I must say I do like the Duchess of Cornwall’s fur-trimmed hat! It’s appropriate with just the subtlest touch of whimsy. And yes, the Duchess of Cambridge wore the most beautifully coordinate and esthetic ally appealing ensemble of any woman pictured! Well done!
Good heavens–rascally autocorrect! Grrrr! 😡 The comment should have read “coordinated” and “esthetically.” So sorry–should’ve checked before sending! 🤔
Don’t worry- when I hit the ‘publish’ button on this post, it took me a minute to realise that my autocorrect had subbed in “Wellington” for “Westminster”.
I agree with most other commenters. Kate looks marvelous, and this coat pairs much better with the hat. I have often thought this hat of Camilla’s to be too casual for this type of event. As for Eugenie, I love the hat, but it doesn’t seem to relate to the coat in any way. No issue with her wearing color as this is a memorial service, not a funeral, but there should be some teal in the hat or some purple on the coat to tie them together. Otherwise, either piece would look sensational paired with black. The rest of the group is perfectly appropriate, I would expect no less from Birgitte and Alexandra especially.
Agreed that the DoCa is the standout here. The hat goes so much better with this coat than the one from Remembrance Day.
Eugenie’s stunning purple hat doesn’t seem right for either her coat or the occasion. Like Jake, I’d love to see this one at Christmas.
The DoG looks great in her usual understated way.
I do like Princess E’s hat – not thinking it’s too off beat in color for this memorial service considering the hat is dark in color and it’s been months since the Duke’s passing. I am glad to see Kate’s hat again – it’s so nice to see her with some volume on her head vs those little cocktail size hats so favors. The coat on Kate, I am not a fan of at all. Those belled velvet cuffs are just odd and would be in the way always. The coat is all chopped up with it’s too many design details when you look at it over all. It also makes her look a bit more hippy than she really is with the side ‘flaps’ on it – they are hard to see but when you catch a photo of her just right, those flaps wing out way too far.
If that coat makes the Duchess of Cambridge look too “hippy” then there’s really no hope for the rest of us! I think that this silhouette actually looks really lovely on her.
I love the pairing of the coat and hat – the combination highlights the contrasting materials of each, and the coat’s open necklace really complements the shape of the hat’s brim.
I’m in agreement with most of the comments so far. Kate comes out at #1; the hat is lovely and goes much better with this coat than the one she wore on a Remembrance Sunday. The Duchess of Cornwall’s coat is fabulous but the hat too casual for the occasion. I do like Eugenie’s hat but she should have worn black. The Duchess of Gloucester’s hat is one of the nicest I’ve seen her wear. Princess Alexandra’s hat is okay.
I’ve amended the post- if you look at the last photo, Princess Eugenie is wearing black! For some reason, her coat shows as a lovely teal in many photographs.
The Duchess of Cambridge as you said looked perfect, with the hat and coat each handsome in themselves and also making a wonderful pairing.
I don’t like this type of Paddington hat of Camilla’s for formal events, really, so I’d have preferred one of the other hats we’ve just seen on the inventory!
Eugenie’s hat is really beautiful. Brighter than many, but there were others including members of the family in similar colours, and I guess she felt she was a junior enough royal to get away with it without causing too many headlines! (If Kate had worn it, there would have been lots of tabloid space devoted to her calling attention to herself at a memorial service…)
I agree that the Duchess of Cambridge is just stunning- the hat and coat combo is really perfect. I also like the Duchess of Gloucester’s hat, and I really enjoy Princess Eugenie’s hat, but it doesn’t seem to go with the coat. I like that she shows a little bit of her personality while still being somber for the occasion. I love this coat on the Duchess of Cornwall, it’s really great, but I find that I do not like this hat (or others like it). The combination of the ruching and fur trim give an (I’m sure unintentional) slouchy and informal vibe, and I feel like a fairly formal occasion calls for a slightly crisper hat. Princess Alexandra’s hat suffers from this a little, though not as bad.
I always think this style of hat on Camilla is perfect for a country walk… but not for a royal engagement. We KNOW she has some beautiful black designs… and it perplexes me why she keeps wearing this one for such formal events.
The floral trim on the Duchess of Westminster’s hat reminds me of some we’ve seen on HM’s hats; perhaps this is an RTM creation? It’s simple, elegant, and does the job very well for this service.
As much as I enjoy Camilla looking like a normal person (a.k.a. me haha) because she dropped her program, I’m less thrilled about her choice of hat; this is much more of a casual working hat, and she missed her chance to repeat the beautiful hat she wore with this coat last Christmas and on Remembrance Sunday this year.
Kate looked much better in this hat this time as compared to Remembrance Day, and I think the success lies in the coat! A more open collar is what I called for the last time, and I received it! I also agree that the mixture of wool and velvet on both the hat and coat helped things even more so.
I wonder if Eugenie’s coat is actually just a shiny black that registers more as teal in photos? If it is teal, it’s pairing with this hat is great, but I find it all quite wrong for the occasion. If her coat is black, it makes more sense, but still a bit odd considering all the other black hats (even though I see another purple hat on a woman behind Eugenie). Personally, I think she should’ve saved this hat to debut on Christmas; it would’ve been stunning for then!
It’s official: Alexandra needs a new black hat.
I’m glad to see Birgitte bring this hat back; it’s one of my favorites for her and it works well with her shorter hair. Rose looked nice in her fedora and it was appropriate for the occasion, but of course it doesn’t stand out.
Great observation- if you look at the very last photo of Princess Eugenie with Lady Rose Gilman, Eugenie’s coat is indeed black. I think it makes the pairing with the purple hat make so much more sense!
So interesting what tricks lighting can play! In the full length shot of D and D of G, I am pretty sure that is Lady Rose to the left, and, in this shot, her coat appears dark blue, though it’s clearly black elsewhere.