After recent Friday discussion posts on Queen Elizabeth’s largest brimmed and largest bow trimmed hats, reader DD suggested we look at the she has worn to various weddings over the years. It seemed an especially fitting thing to do today, on the eve of this weekend’s grand event here goes! I’ve listed hats worn to the weddings of all immediate family members below and will leave those worn to weddings of extended family and friends for you to share in the comments. If you post a photo link, please ensure the link includes original photo sources.
May 18, 1960 Princess Margaret & Antony Armstrong-Jones: Norman Hartnell gown and veiled hat with roses
November 14, 1973 Princess Anne & Capt. Mark Phillips: Royal blue ruffled hat by Simone Mirman
July 29, 1981 Prince Charles & Lady Diana Spencer: Ian Thomas designed sky blue crepe turban with flowers
July 23, 1986 Prince Andrew and & Ferguson: Philip Somerville cornflower blue diagonal brim hat with flowers
October 8, 1993 Viscount Linley & Serena Stanhope: Philip Somerville pink pleated brim
July 14, 1994 Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones & Daniel Chatto: Ian Thomas designed coral and cream straw
June 19, 1999 Prince Edward &Sophie Rhys Jones: Frederick Fox lavender feather bandeau
April 9, 2005 Prince Charles & Camilla Parker Bowles: pale yellow hat with flower print brim
May 17, 2008 Peter Phillips & Autumn Kelly: grey and bronze feathered headpiece
April 29, 2011 Prince William & Catherine Middleton: Angela Kelly yellow crepe boater with velvet roses
July 31, 2011 Zara Phillips & Mike Tindall: Rachel Trevor Morgan pink straw angular cloche with feathers
May 19, 2018 Prince Harry & Meghan Markle: lime yellow and purple Angela Kelly design
October 12, 2018 Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank: ice blue, ecru and gold Angela Kelly design
That’s eleven different hats and headpieces (with brims and trims of all varieties) over 50 years. My favourite here is the cornflower blue silk crepe hat with diagonal brim and chiffon roses by Ian Thomas worn for the York’s wedding in 1986- a hat of such exquisitely beautiful shape, scale and colour that it’s among my top favourite of ALL Queen Elizabeth’s hats!
I can’t wait to see what other wedding hats you share and hear about which ones stand out in your memories, most.
Royal Hats 
So sorry not to be able to participate in a meaningful way. At a literary festival 250km from home – have champagne on ice for tonight, though. Loving the comments and photos – and look forward to the posts to follow. Best wishes for your Odyssey Hat Queen!
What… I’m supposed to blog about this wedding?!?!
After looking at all these fantastic pictures, I see that the queen’s favorite color to weddings is lavender. Of course, I can’t tell in the black and white pictures but I thought I counted a lavender dress three times to weddings in more recent years. I predict lavender of pink for tomorrow’s wedding.
I recounted and there were 4 lavender, 4 pink or pinkish (including the coral hat) and 4 yellow including the yellow and black hat. I am still hoping for lavender or pink.
What about the four blue ones?! My guess for tomorrow is blue…
Wow! What a splendid assortment! Thanks to HatQueen and all who researched and posted these. My favorite is still the 2011 pink RTM because it is soooo happy. Can’t wait until tomorrow.
April 10, 1956; Mary McCorquodale @ Fergus Michael Bowes-Lyon (no Smith and Jones, to be sure!)
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April 28, 1938; Anne Bowes-Lyon @ Lord Anson
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July 22, 1948; Lady Isabel-Milles-Lade @ Lord Derby
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July 25, 1956; Kathryn Stanley @ Sir John Dugdale
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Great finds! The second hat, with high upswept ruffled (or flower covered?) brim is quite a hat!
An unusual teardrop shaped brim worn July 10, 1951 at Westminster Abbey for the wedding of Lady Carlone Montague-Douglas-Scott, daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch, to Ian Hodworth Gilmour. I can’t remember seeing her in a hat of this shape before!
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If you scroll down this page you can see the original designer drawing of Queen Elizabeth’s dress and coat for Charles and Diana’s wedding and a big photograph of it. I never liked this helmet hat until seeing this drawing!
https://foto.gettyimages.com/celebrity/royals/princess-diana-wedding-dress-sketches/?utm_campaign=gi-home&utm_medium=web&utm_source=hero3es-sudan?utm_campaign=gi-home&utm_medium=web&utm_source=hero3
WONDERFUL! All the dress sketches are amazing to see. I often wonder how much the hat design is influenced by the dress designer (and how much freedom is left to the milliner). In this case, it seems that the hat design was very much part of the dress concept to create an overall look. So wonderful to see Mrs. Shand Kydd’s dress and hat design as well. Thanks so much for sharing, Joanne.
Did HM QEII attend the weddings of her cousins (i.e. The Gloucesters and the three Kent Weddings?) I would have assumed she would have, but a quick google search didn’t turn up anything. This could easily be a googling fault on my part- just wondering if any of the in-the-know people have any ideas?
She was bridesmaid on at the Duke of Gloucester and Princess Alice’s wedding in November 1935
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She wore a purple hat to The Duke and Duchess of Kent’s wedding in June 1961
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And a pale seafoam green turban to Princess Alexandra and Angus Ogilvy’s wedding in April 1963
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She didn’t attend Prince Michael’s wedding and I don’t believe she attended the current Duke & Duchess of Gloucester’s wedding (it was before the Duke’s elder brother died and the couple, who were not expecting to have a public royal role, had a very small, private country wedding).
I forgot one- the brimless vibrant green felt hat Queen Elizabeth wore December 12, 1992 for Princess Anne and Commander Timothy Laurence’s wedding.
Out of the hats featured in the post, Zara’s wedding hat was my favorite; runners up included Peter Phillips’ wedding fascinator, Anne’s wedding (I especially loved the outfit color and the diamond design on the coat), and the York wedding hat. Also, I like how you can clearly see Anne wear the same hat and outfit to the Linley wedding and Charles’ & Camilla’s wedding haha.
My favorite wedding guest hat ever for HM would probably have the Alexandra Knatchbull wedding hat (https://royalhats.wordpress.com/2016/06/27/british-and-greek-royals-attend-british-society-wedding/). Gorgeous color, fantastic shape, and beautifully done trim. Perfection.
I knew Jimbo would find some good ones! The Timothy Knatchbull wedding hat (Nov. 1998) was repeated at Princess Alexia’s wedding in July 1999, although (surprisingly?) with a different outfit (also featured: a hat and outfit I would love to see on Silvia again):
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And don’t forget the lavender hat from Pavlos & Marie-Chantal’s wedding in 1995: https://royalhats.wordpress.com/2015/07/03/greek-royal-wedding-20-years-on-royal-guests/.
I can’t seem to recall HM attending any foreign royal weddings outside of the UK. Am I wrong in this assumption? Curious to see what other hats people may bring up here!
The peach Rachel Trevor Morgan worn to Alexandra Knatchbull’s wedding is a beauty (photo below is from it’s repeat last July). The purple hat from the Greek royal wedding is also very smart.
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While the hat at Princess Anne’s 1973 wedding is not my favourite, the incredible diamond inset pattern on the coat is astounding. Norman Hartnell was a master couturier and, I must admit, the ruffled detail on the hat was just right to set off the coat!
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I agree! The hat almost looks like a glorified snood from a distance, but the softness tempers the sharp lines of the coat very well. Interesting that it appears purply-blue in some photos and almost teal in others. I wonder what colour it is in person?
As I understand, it’s royal blue, as photographed on the dress stand above
Silvia is dazzling in this! I wonder why she gave up the large-brimmed hats?
I have never seen that photo of The Queen with her grandmother before. It is so charming. You can almost feel the affection that they had. As for wedding hats, I have to agree that the blue York Wedding hat was very flattering, both in shape and colour. My least favourite is the pink pleated Linley Wedding hat. The colour seemed to wash out Her Majesty. On the other hand, the shade of pink she wore to Zara Phillips’s wedding was very becoming.
That blue hat from 1986 is perfection. There is nothing to top it. I had forgotten it so thrilled to see it again here to enjoy it. That’s why you are the Hat Queen! 👑
Aas i started this thought that I should post a few. I thought hat queen might have had a few obscure ones. Here’s as bridesmaid to Patricia Mountbatten
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Here are a few more shots from this wedding
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She was also bridesmaid on at the Duke of Gloucester’s wedding in November 1935
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and May 29, 1946 at the wedding of Hon. Mrs. Vicary Gibbs and Captain Hon. A.G.V. Elphinstone. This floral headpiece is so pretty
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Hat Queen, I agree with you about The Queen’s Phillip Somerville hat worn at the Duke and Duchess of York’s wedding. It was beautiful (along with her dress) and she looked so happy that day.
October 20, 1979; Penelope Eastwood and Norton Knatchbull
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July 30, 1988; Julia Rawlinson and James Ogilvy
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July 14, 1994; Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones and Daniel Chatto
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November 7, 1998; Isabella Norman and Timothy Knatchbull (I liked Margaret's ensemble better)
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November 6, 2004; Lady Tamara Grovesnor and Ed Van Cutsem
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Jimbo- I beg your forgiveness but I couldn’t help adding more photos in gallery format to your comment above. The purple hat the Queen Wore to the Grovesnor Van Cutsem wedding is such a sharp piece and the temptation to show it from all angles was too great to resist!
The second best part about your favorite hat ensemble was the sumptuous pearl necklace the Queen wore. Oh, it see it again!!!!
RW, my mother had a very similar pearl necklace, maybe not quite as valuable, though. When we were kids, we had much fun popping them together, as they were made of plastic.
Perhaps, Princess Elizabeth’s FIRST wedding:
October 24, 1931; Lady May Cambridge and Captain Henry Abel-Smith (National Portrait Gallery)
That Elizabethan lattice headpiece is DARLING and the photo with her grandmother, charming beyond words! Thanks for sharing, Jimbo.
Here’s another interesting historical photo with a most interesting hat- February 1944 at Westminster Abbey for the wedding of Lady Anne Spencer to Lieut. Christopher Wake-Walker
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Another really interesting hat was worn November 5, 1946 at the wedding of Myra Wernher and Major David Butter at St Margaret’s church, Westminster. The round brim is so interesting, as is the scalloped brim on Princess Margaret’s hat!
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Could Margaret have borrowed this scalloped hat from her sister?
https://i.huffpost.com/gen/1749921/thumbs/o-SCALOPPED-EDGE-570.jpg?6
May 25, 1944
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YES! YES! YES! Brilliant find, Jimbo!
Both the coat and hat have such a military influence, don’t you think? I wonder what color they were.
Note: my comment was referring to the Spencer/Wake-Walker wedding — for some reason, it showed up in the wrong sequence.