to Trooping the Colour 33 years ago. There’s a mix of hats here that seem pretty standard for their wearers and the fashion of the times…. except for the Duchess of Gloucester’s wide plaited headband at the far left. That one nearly defies description.
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Photo from Getty as indicated
Royal Hats 
This has to be the most radical thing I have ever seen the D of G wear. It doesn’t do her any favors, but then I am not sure it would do anyone any favors. Just a big NO!
I don’t think these crazy fashions can all be blamed on the 80’s …..people could still make good fashion choices, the headband hat though is not one of them. She does look so young I would have recognized her without the caption. For the senior royals flowers are the style. Well you can’t always get the right look, sometimes it is a trial and error experience….Diana had some, and Maxima is still trying out some shocking looks.
Well-spotted HQ! Shades of Olivia Newton-John!
But it’s seeing a mullet hairstyle on a royal head which tickles me.The eighties was the age of Big Hair – which was inimical to hatwearing.(Note David Armstrong-Jones’ hair 🙂 ) This hat was probably just the answer for the fashion-conscious woman who wanted nothing to crush her bouffy hairstyle!
Could this hat be worn today? I think so. Max would certainly give it a closer look. The shape is actually quite conservative. Sleeker hair (and no choker ) )would make a huge difference. Actually I wouldn’t mind seeing it on Mette-Marit.
Another view:
https://glennharvey.mediastorehouse.com/trooping-of-the-colour-london-1984/print/9443742.html
Goodness me, it looks like John McEnroe up there on the balcony in his usual headbands.
I was thinking of Olivia Newton-John in Let’s Get Physical.
Yes! That too.
Very unexpected from a royal hat-wearer who tends to low-key, classic designs…or maybe that is a more recent development for the Duchess? I don’t remember seeing anything hat/headpiece like this ever before. There were those workout headbands and 1980s bridal headpieces worn low on the forehead, but was this a hat trend, too? HatQueen, is there anything even resembling this in your archives?
Nothing that I can find. I’m not sure this became a full-on millinery trend!
We can see why!
This one has always left me confounded.
Oh my! I would not have minded missing Birgitte’s headband at all. I can’t unsee that now. A surprising choice for her, to be sure. Personally I hated the eighties. The hair and clothes were dreadful. Diana made some odd choices too. I was never a fan of shoulder pads, so I didn’t like many clothes back then. The Queen Mum and Queen just kept on doing their thing, so there probably aren’t any pictures of them looking as dated. I can’t get over how youthful Viscount Linley and The Duchess of Gloucester looked. Nice to see the dowager duchess too. I always admired her.
Birgitte was not about to let Trooping the Colour to interfere with her “Sweatin’ to the Oldies” class.
!!!!! Funny.
they had zoom lens and cameras?? blimey, indeed! (jk)
I think that was 33 years ago.
300 years ago? Looks pretty fashion forward for the year 1717!
HA! In changing the picture ratio, I think I put “00” behind the wrong number. All is fixed now!
Recently, I put $5.00 on a charge slip for a tip, but the waitress registered it as $500 – no decimal point! She was good, but not THAT good!
Blimey that’s not normally a head you expect to see anything avant garde on. Thankfully that one seems to have been consigned to the past. Diana aside (and then not always), the 80s wasn’t a great time for royal fashion was it…?