I’m pleased to welcome back reader Eliza for a second guest post about royal hats she’d most like to see repeated. In this post, she’s venturing into the Duchess of Cambridge’s millinery closet. Welcome again, Eliza!
I had so much fun writing about the Queen’s hats, I’m having another go with Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge.
I. The Potato Chip
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The royal hats I love most are ones with large brims and I think this is one of the largest hats Kate has ever worn. It’s modern and stylish but still graceful and very pretty, all the things you’d want in a royal hat.
II. The Christmas Wine
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I just said I like hats with large brims most but this is my favorite hat that Kate has ever worn and look- almost no brim! The way the brim ruffles at the back is so beautiful and I love the way the hat feels vintage and modern at the same time.The color is also so perfect. I can’t understand why she hasn’t worn this again.
III. The Vanilla Garden Tea Saucer
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I didn’t expect Kate to wear a Philip Treacy hat again and was so surprised (and happy!) when she did for Trooping The Colour last year. These side swipes are pretty popular but there’s something soft and pretty about this piece that I love and that looks so great on Kate. Imagine it with a pink flowered dress for Ascot or a garden party? It would be perfect.
IV. The Peach Fizz
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Until this year, Kate has been wearing a lot of button and beret perchers. To be honest, I always thought a lot of them were a bit boring… until I saw this one. Who knew a hat could be saved by a peach ruffle but this one totally is. I was so disappointed when I read that she wore this one in Belgium a few months bak with the peach ruffle removed and replaced with a boring old beige bow. I hope they put the peach ruffle back on.
After just criticising Kate’s percher hats, I feel I need to say how much Kate’s perchers have improved this year. This summer there were some new ones and they are three of the nicest percher hats Kate has ever worn. I hope we’ll see these hats again. Props to Kate’s stylist Natasha because Kate has really upped her hat game.
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Royal Hats 
The Christmas Wine is my favorite! Terrific picks, Eliza! I love them!
The Christmas Wine hat has always been my favorite as it has color, texture, stylish flair and it’s the perfect size. It seems like it has the wonderful aspects of a fedora mixed with a cocktail hat. Let’s see it again this coming winter season.
Beautiful, beautiful hats. Eliza, you picked hats that look wonderful on HRH. That velour velvet burgundy wine hat is my absolute favorite. Great article, thank you both, Eliza, and our dear Hat Queen!
Thanks Eliza , if perfectly shows the different styles of hats, which all look great even though it is a potato chip 🙂
Being a Duchess of Cambridge fan it was very nice to see Eliza contributing a guest post for Catherine. Very nice choices too….happy that a hat I particularly liked at the time was featured…. Number 4, affectionately labelled here as the Peach Fizz. The trim reminds me SO much of a marine creature The Paper Nautilus, surely not found only here in Oz, anyway their shell is very beautiful and looks just like the pleated fizz. I absolutely hated what was done to it in Belgium recently…shockingly poor substitute. Also resembling another sea creature, this time a clam, the beautiful pink hat worn for Trooping the Colour certainly warrants a return. Really really good. HRH is a very elegant woman IMO. Thanks Eliza.
Thank you so much Eliza! I love these hats! I hope for the “Christmas Wine” hat every year at Christmas time! Maybe this year! I love the navy disc and the peach fizz hat, too. It is interesting that the peach fizz hat was worn for a war memorial event, also, but it wasn’t “appropriate” in Belgium. The three hats you showed from this summer are great. I love the one she wore for Pippa’s wedding! Thank you so much for your post!
Eliza has quite an eye for the beautiful hats the Duchess of Cambridge has worn. The pale hats stand out so much more on her probably because of her dark hair, but I do also love the overall shape of Christmas Wine.
You are all so kind! I really enjoyed writing this Thanks HatQueen for making me a published writer!
I love the Christmas wine hat. You picked some real winners, Eliza. Pretty colors, flowers, ruffles…perfect princess adornment.
Thank you, Eliza! These are great selections, and you’ve given them such appropriate nicknames. I’d especially like to see the Christmas Wine again. I’m also with Jake on the navy disc.
You raise a good point about the recent improvement in the perchers. They seem to be the option with which the Duchess is most comfortable, but there’s no reason not to wear the prettiest and most interesting available.
Thanks! How can you tell it was almost time for lunch when I wrote this post?!!!
Great post, Eliza!
Never know if these embeds are going to work, but is this the altered Peach Fizz you’re referring to?
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This was worn at the Passchendaele Centennary, which HatQueen wrote about on July 31:
https://royalhats.wordpress.com/2017/07/31/belgian-british-royals-commemorate-passchendaele-centennary/
While I agree that the large peach flower was much more spectacular, the toned-down beige decoration was more appropriate for the solemn Belgium occasion. I wonder if this hat is like the one we read about previously from… I think it was CP Mary, that had been altered 6 times? Hopefully the peach flower was carefully preserved and can be reattached in the future as the need arises!
Eliza mentioned to me that she’s back at work as a teacher so I imagine she’ll respond to comments this evening.
In the meantime- yes, that’s the hat that is, apparently, the same as the one trimmed in peach. The trims on these hats is clearly sewn on so it would be much less easy to interchange trimmings than on Crown Princess Mary’s hat, where I suspect the trim may be pinned or held by a magnet. I was in a hat shop recently where all the trims were backed with strong magnets- you choose your trim, slip another magnet behind the crown to anchor it (a slim one that you can’t feel at all on your head) and voila! Trimmed hat.
I definitely agree that the Potato Chip and Christmas Wine should make comebacks! I’ve also thought the navy disc from the Service of Commemoration for Afghanistan should return soon too:
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I completely forgot about this one Jake! Absolutely add it to my list!
Fun picks, Eliza. I love that wine one too — with The DOC’s hair and skin colouring, the effect is fabulous.
This is a lovely selection, and I agree with all your choices, Eliza. The Duchess doesn’t wear hats so very often, but they certainly add up to a substantial number over the years, and I’m quite surprised that she doesn’t repeat them more. Do you think the lovely burgundy one is felt, Hat Queen? I’ve always thought it had the look of velvet!
I agree. I have always thought it is velvet too. Sumptuous.
The Christmas Wine is made from a velour felt, which is a fur felt that’s been brushed in a way to look more like velvet (and velvet is a very heavy material, which would be hard to shape and ultimately wear on one’s head). Velour felt is quite common nowadays for high quality women’s hats.
As Jake mentioned, it’s not felt or velvet, it’s velour felt!
That is so interesting. HatQueen, could you do a post sometime on all the different types of felt? And straw too? A few weeks back someone wrote that one of the Queen’s hats from the 1990s was one of the first in a certain type of straw. I really don’t know anything about different types of felt and straw used to make hats.
lovely,lovely hats and the Duchess wears them so well!