The Duchess of Cornwall repeated a hat today at the races that some of you have been eagerly waiting to see again. Worn first at Princess Charlotte’s christening, this pale blue straw design features an upswept brim rimmed in a wide stripe of inverted edging and is trimmed with a huge silk bloom. Prince Charles repeated his black top hat.
Photos from Getty as indicated
Royal Hats 
Even though this hat is a repeat it is nice to see her in a color. She looks great in the soft blue and the angle of the brim is a nice change as well. I am not as much of a fan of the large bloom. The dress is also great. Camilla seems to wear more dresses rather than coats as the Queen does. Her dress today is very pretty in it’s details and it is nice to see Charles’s tie a match.
This hat is all loveliness and elegance! One of Camilla’s best looks, in my opinion.
I was waiting for the Duchess to repeat this hat and she picked Royal Ascot to do it! Brava! Love the hat, love the dress, she looked beautiful today and the Prince of Wales coordinated his tie with her outfit! Can’t wait for tomorrow.
This is one of Camilla’s better outfits – floaty and flattering, balanced with the hat, the hat not too OTT with its size and trim. Very pleasant and I’m happy to see it back. Too nice to leave in the wardrobe.
Camilla looks so lovely in this pale blue, I wish she’d wear it more. The floaty dress is great, but the circles are distracting and compete with the pleats. But otherwise, gorgeous! I always like to see what buttonhole Charles is wearing each day.
Yes, the circles look like one of her grandchildren decided to ‘decorate’ the dress! 🙂
Yes, I’m a happy camper too. The hat and the dress are made for each other. I like the vertical pleats and the dots on the dress and I think the hat has a slight floaty feel to it, due to that gorgeous flower of course, that matches the softness of the colour and fabric of the dress. It looks like it would feel nice to wear, this ensemble. Thankyou Camilla, good job.
SOoooo much better in a pastel COLOUR!
I think the queen’s hat very fetching and sprightly, and the duchess’s hat is a beauty, just her style, and a lovely and flattering color. (I wish I felt the same way about her dress, wonderful playful fabric and the same great color, but not flattering at all in fit. The pintucked horizontal band cuts the vertical flow of the lines at a very unhappy spot.)
Camilla looks lovely. It’s a nice change to see the soft, floaty dresses that the heat dictates.
May I offer a slight assist today for you, HQ, before my 2 hour trip back home? (I’m at a 3-day conference presently – and spending the whole time with you wonderful hat loving people!)
Queen Elizabeth, June 21, 2000 (17 years ago today)
Embed from Getty Images
Queen Eizabeth, June 21, 2007 (10 years ago today)
Embed from Getty Images
Would love to see the 2007 hat on the Duchess of Cornwall!
The 2007 hat is wonderful. Would love to see the Queen wear this style again. Camilla looks gorgeous as always.
Happy to see this repeat on Camilla – it’s lovely isn’t it, and she looks great in this blue. I think you guys are onto something too, she IS channelling the Queen Mum! Well both are known for being partial to the odd tipple…
We asked for the Duchess to wear colour and she did! The hat is very flattering. Her blue and the Queen’s yellow remind me of favorite flowers in a garden!
Cams looks just great today!
Both HM and DofC have interesting hats — in that they both seem evocative of other family member’s classic hat styles. The Queen seems like she is wearing a ‘cut down’ version of one of Camilla’s Philip Treacy big showboat hats, slimmed and streamlined in a way that works beautifully on HM. Camilla’s hat appears to be channeling a little “classic” Queen Mother, minus the netted veiling and extra embellishment.
Both are lovely hats that work very well on the respective wearers, but it was interesting to get that little wave of deja vu (hatja vu?).
What? That is just in MrFitzoy’s minds eye? Never mind then.
Jimbo agrees with 1/2 of your accessment – D of C does remind him of the Queen Mother, a kind of “variation on a theme.” How-some-ever, he feels that HM’s new yellow (ANOTHER yellow!) is textbook Queen Elizabeth! Nothing new, but still very beautiful.
HQ, if you ever get around to Queen Elizabeth’s Yellow Inventory, you’ll be quite busy, to be sure. Jimbo hopes you’re getting enough sleep, ‘cuz we ain’t even half way through the week of hats!
Yesterday knocked me off my feet- 16 ladies’ hats and 11 hats for the men! Thankfully, today is a little quieter. When things settle down, we’ll get back to those colour inventories and I’ll do a post looking back at the Queen’s Ascot looks through the years.
I’m imagining that you just had time to finish Tuesday’s appearances before you started Wednesday’s. And you even slipped Max in there. You are too good to us, HatQueen!
Ask, and ye shall receive!!
Thank you, thank you, thank you Camilla, for granting my wish of wearing color and bringing back this hat! I think it looks even better the second time around. Did you notice she’s also carrying a fan? Still hate the dots on her outfit though. And that first photo of HM and Camilla is amazing.
I was a little more surprised to see Charles had changed, but with the heatwave in the U.K., I’m certain the grey would feel cooler than the black.
I love this hat, and the blue color looks wonderful on her, and coordinates well with the Queen’s yellow coat and hat. So nice to see something other than cream or white. I know some people will be disappointed to not see a new hat and dress, but I like the way that many of the senior royals recycle their clothes. I always love to see what everyone wears at Ascot, and will be sorry when it is over for this year.