King Willem Alexander and Queen Máxima’s visit to the Caribbean continued with a number of events (and hats!) over the weekend! On Friday, the couple attend the small island of Saba’s annual “Saba Day” celebration. For this event, Queen Máxima repeated her pleated ring/bandeau headpiece in vibrant yellow silk.
Embed from Getty Images Embed from Getty Images
Embed from Getty Images Embed from Getty Images
Embed from Getty Images Embed from Getty Images
Previously Worn: April 30, 2015; September 30, 2014; June 6, 2014
Embed from Getty Images
On Saturday, the couple visited Sint Maarten to view reconstruction projects and damaged areas caused by Hurricane Irene. Queen Máxima wore an oversized fedora with large brim, monochrome hatband and side bow. While the hue of the hat looks to mimic natural straw, Josine Droogendijk over at Mode Koningin Maxima tells me that the hat, from a well known Dutch brand, is 90% paper (a much better alternative to the polypropylene/polyester commonly used for off-the-peg designs as this). The hat is another informal one but the design is again well suited to the location and nature of this visit. It’s difficult to hit the right balance of formality when pairing a hat with trousers but this hit just the right note.
Embed from Getty Images Embed from Getty Images
Embed from Getty Images Embed from Getty Images
Embed from Getty Images Embed from Getty Images
Royal Hats 
Hm, These hats again point to the fact that context is all. The blue hat is essentially a private hat, and since they were doing extra-curricular activities, that’s fine, it’s a lovely colour. The fedora is okay, but I’m not very keen on the shape for official engagements as to me it is in essence not a formal enough style, however, in this context, paired with the trousers and also what I assume were less formal and more vigorous events, it seems not too out of place on the Queen. The yellow outfit was clearly the most formal of the three, and this headpiece goes really well with the whole look. Personally, though, I don’t think the hollow crown adds anything at all to it, it would be better from behind if it were a proper hat!
I love her Caribbean looks, including her hats. The hats really complete the outfits and elevate them, even the scuba diving one.
Agree completely. She looks terrific in every shot.
I love the fedora, I want it
Yes, I definitely enjoyed this hat on this outing much more than in the past. I think its pairing with this dress helped immensely, but also the different placement on her head. The dress is quite beautiful and suits Máxima so well.
I’m not really a fan of such unstructured paper straw sunhats, but this blue one worked well for the outing.
Moving on to the fedora: as HatQueen said, this is a paper straw, which is straw that often pulped down and turned into a flexible braid that is then woven together to make the hat. It is a flexible material that’s easy to travel with, but loses its shaped much quicker than most other materials; hence why the crown on this particular hat doesn’t look as refined. Overall I think this fedora was a great choice for the occasion, location and outfit, but my personal bias is I’m not a huge fan of paper straw in general for its unreliability when it comes to maintenance.
The lady has STYLE. That yellow almost-turban is fantastic.
I completely agree with your comment of the difficulty of choosing a hat when one is wearing pants. An excellent choice by the queen!
I love the yellow ensemble but the element that stands out are the earrings the queen is wearing. I know, off topic for this blog but wow! One large golden pearl, one large black pearl, and some serious diamond wattage to join the pearls. Yes!
Not off topic- one can’t look at the hat without noticing those earrings! The balance here between the dress, headpiece, ponytail and earrings works so well, despite there being numerous statement pieces.
Well, as long as we’re talking earrings, those huge tan daisy-like ones with the fedora are also pretty great, but back to hats — paper, wow! What happens to the hat if it starts to rain, or the wearer otherwise gets splashed with water? I have a mental image of the whole thing disintegrating!
Haha, it may not disintegrate completely, but if it gets wet, a paper straw hat will lose its shape very quickly, and may come apart depending on what else happens. But then again, all straw hats will get damaged to some extent if they get wet!
Ok, that reminds me I need to work with HatQueen to bring a hat materials guide/list to blog! 😉
Jake, my parents once attended a dinner dance where a woman who should not have been trying to dress like her daughter in the mod sixties was wearing a paper dress. The outcome was not pretty. At least with a hat, if it unexpectedly disintegrates, it will not be necessary for others to hold up a tablecloth to preserve the wearer’s modesty!