On Wednesday, Princess Beatrix opened a new storage facility for depleted uranium at the Central Radioactive Waste Organization (COVRA) in Borssele. The building is noteworthy- designed by engineer F. Koch in collaboration with artist William Verstraten, its form is in that of a sundial (the largest in Europe now) in reference to the importance of time in radioactive waste management. For this event, Pincess Beatrix wore a navy bumper hat with pyramid shaped crown made of lattice textured straw.
Designer: likely Suzanne Moulijn
Previously Worn: I believe this hat is new
Previously Worn: I believe this hat is new
The textured straw gives much dimension and visual interest to the otherwise unadorned design and while we’ve all become very used to (and accepting of!) the high folded bumper brims that Princess Beatrix has favoured for years, I’m not fond of the conehead pyramid crown. That all being said- we see numerous royals in head-to-toe ensembles in the same colour and the mix of textures here on Beatrix’s dress, coat and hat all work together but make a far more interesting look than one where the individual pieces are all crafted from of the same fabric (yes, that’s a veiled criticism of Angela Kelly). For additional views of this piece, check out this excellent gallery over at Monarchy Press.
What do you think of Princess Beatrix’s hat?
Photos from Splash News and social media as indicated
Royal Hats 
We may be going to excessive lengths here, trying to find an explanation for the unusual point on top of the hat, but if you watch the video in the post of Edie Engel September 15, 2017 at 9:47 pm, which I have just now had time to watch, it ends with sand going into an hourglass, and though the image is yellowish, the shape of the pile of sand at the bottom is familiar.
And yet (this will seem off-topic but give me a minute), decades ago, I was at an event at a university where a number of published writers were speaking, and after the event I got into a conversation with one of the speakers, and while we were chatting, some graduate students interrupted us and went on at some length about all of the deep and serious things they had encountered while reading her book, and after they went away, she turned to me and said, “Did I put all of those things into my book? I had no idea!” I say that because I wonder what the designer of this hat would think of our extended analysis of the point on top!
Oh I love this. Her classic shape but in such a glorious string color. And I love the purple eyeshadow too!!
The point on it adds something at least to her usual (as I call them) her stack of plates hat. The brim always looks like a charger to me with a couple plates stacked on top of it for her typical hat — funny however, I don’t mine her hat style nearly as much as I do HM’s mat hatter hats!
Yes, beachgal — this hat like so many of Beatrix’s, does has a touch of the stacking bamboo steamer about it.
I find the perfect symmetry and straight lines of a cone hat rather unforgiving, and the similarity to traditional Asian headwear, like many attempted references to other cultures, always feels borderline costume-y. HQ’s post here https://royalhats.wordpress.com/2013/02/01/milestone-birthday-for-queen-beatrix-the-funny-hats/ reminds me that the princess wore quite a few cone hats about 8 years ago – I hope she isn’t in the process of rediscovering them!
The longest search for photos of the storage facility yielded an uninspiring blue “box” — the same color as the outfit worn by the Princess for the opening. I don’t care for the shape of her hat crown, it looks odd; otherwise she looks great.
I couldn’t find any photos of the storage facility itself, but if it’s in the shape of a sundial, I wonder if the shape of the Princess’s hat is (sorry) a tip of the hat to the building she is opening.
Ha!
Inspired idea, but the case–and we can be happy the princess did not choose to memorialize the COVRA facility in headgear: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVRA#/media/File:Covra_het_gebouw.JPG
“not” the case!
Yikes! I can’t recall ever seeing Beatrix in that particular shade of yellow, and probably for the best!
By the way, going back to your earlier comment about the aerodynamics of the hat, if you do a Google image search on the name of the power plant, you come up with many photos of this event as well as the building itself, and a number of them where she appears to be holding or adjusting the hat, so you may be right about that!
The hat is FAR more attractive than the building!
I have to apologize to Liz and retract: http://www.omroepzeeland.nl/nieuws/100805/Prinses-Beatrix-opent-nieuw-gebouw-COVRA The former queen opened the orange building in September of 2003, and the blue one is the one she opened today. I have not been able to find a photo of the hat from the first occasion, still hoping it doesn’t have E=MC2 on it.
Thanks for the correction! I’ll also search fo the 2003 hat.
Edie- You were able to locate a photo of the 2003 event an sent it to me via direct message- it was too interesting not to share the results of your great sleuth work here! The hat is a rather nondescript burgundy straw boater that looks quite fetching on Princess Beatrix. Thanks for tracking this down!
Embed from Getty Images
I think you are right on the money, HatQueen: I don’t really like the pointy top either, but in the context of the princess’s whole costume, the hat adds interest. From some angles the point is not so obtrusive. (The hat, however, doesn’t appear to be aerodynamically sound, in spite of the big hat pin 🙂 Princess Beatrix looks wonderful, and seems to be enjoying herself greatly.