On Tuesday, Princess Benedikte opened the new Nordhavn Campus of the Copenhagen International School. For this engagement, she repeated her purple wool hat with straight sided crown (with Pork Pie style indented dome) and cloche shaped bell brim, raised on one side. The simple purple hatband previously seen on this piece was overlaid with one printed with grey leopard spots, giving a hit of contrast and high impact pattern to the hat. Adding a new hatband was a simple change which gave immense new energy to this hat- I wonder why we don’t see these kinds of simple changes happen on royal millinery more often.
Designer: unconfirmed. Likely Susanne Juul
Previously Worn: December 3, 2013; March 8, 2013What do you think of this hatband change on this purple hat?
Previously Worn: December 3, 2013; March 8, 2013What do you think of this hatband change on this purple hat?
Photos from Lars Krogsgaard via The Danish Monarchy
Royal Hats 
I’m with the “do not like animal print” group. That being said, Princess Benedikte looks fabulous.
Love it!
I’m definitely in the minority when it comes to this hatband. Granted, I’m not huge on animal prints, and I think an animal print hatband cheapens the look of this hat. That said, I think overall the hat is a good one for Benedikte; I loved the previous outing, when paired with the purple pumps and magenta outfit (anyone who can pull off that much color so well is after my own heart haha).
Examples of animal print hats done well (in my opinion) include these two from Louise Green:
1: https://www.louisegreen.com/collections/fall-winter-womens-hats/products/1144jcp_ble
2: https://www.louisegreen.com/collections/fall-winter-womens-hats/products/4172drp-darren-brown-leopard
I don’t care for animal prints, but I admit this band adds a lot of panache to an already beautiful hat.
Love, love, love her hat!!!!!
I love the hat! I especially covet the luscious fur collar on her jacket. She is a great Royal style leader!
The leopard spots do not go with anything else in the outfit, but I think the hat with leopard band is wonderful. A fun addition! I’m in favor of it.
Ohhhh I love this! It’s fun… I can see others’ points about a potential mismatch but with the funky collar this adds up to a quirky outfit on a fabulous lady d’une certaine age as far as I’m concerned.
As a hat, per se, the hat is enlivened by the new band. However, the new band does not really relate to the rest of the princess’s costume–except as Jimbo says, perhaps negatively to her fur collar. I think I would prefer the old band here. Maybe further experimentation is in order!
The princess has related the purple hat to her outfit by repeating the color with a purple bag, and, really, she looks very nice, hat band and all.
I really like the change. But then, I am an animal print person. My query is using purple as a “neutral”. The first time she wore it she had matching shoes, but now it just seem so random, as it did the second time she wore it. .
I don’t think a lot of people will like my comment either, because I agree with Sue. It would make more sense having the leopard spots
if the fur around her collar was leopard, methinks. Maybe the band was added for the children’s benefit.
I see a zoological conflict here! If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!
I know a lot of people won’t like this comment but this is my own personal opinion. I have always found animal prints to be rather tacky. I think the hat looked better with the solid band.