Last week, several of you noticed that the pale grey straw hat with ostrich feather that the Duchess of Cornwall wore to the Victoria Cross and George Cross Association service was paired with a new ensemble. This Philip Treacy hat has been a workhorse for Camilla over the past years and we’ve seen her pair it with no less than eight different ensembles so far:
Look #1: With an ecru dress and matching jacket with pleated ruffle detail on June 19, 2006, May 12, 2009, and July 28, 2009
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Look #2: With a grey silk paisley dress with v-neck ruffle on July 1, 2006 in France
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Look #3: With a pale greige silk wool open tailored coat and the dress above on July 7, 2006
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Look #4: With an eggshell silk jacquard patterned dress and matching peplum jacket worn to a July 16, 2009 Buckingham Palace Garden Party
Look #5: With a silver embroidered and tasseled eggshell linen wool coat to her nephew’s wedding, September 10, 2011
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Look #6: With a tailored beige silk dress with pleated skirt on June 28, 2012
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Look #7: With a cream silk crepe dress and matching one-button coat on June 18, 2015 to mark the 200th Anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo and June 11, 2016 for Trooping the Colour
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Look #8: With a taupe, grey and cream silk floral dress and a taupe braided trim coat on May 15, 2018 for a service honoring the Victoria Cross and George Cross Association.
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Update- commenter JamesB (whose encyclopedic knowledge of British royal hats keeps me on my toes!) cited a ninth ensemble Camilla has paired with this hat that I couldn’t omit. It’s a great pairing.
Look #9: With a grey floral brocade coat worn for a May 22, 2013 Buckingham Palace garden party
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Royal Hats 
I love this hat !! I love it with everything – she seems to channel her great grandmothers Edwardian look and it really suits her … didn’t she have a black one the same that she wore with lots of different outfits ? Looks like a favourite – “when you feel good you look good ” !!! 😊
I like Look #’s 1, 7 & 9 with this hat, with I think #9 being my favorite. Sometimes I really like this hat and sometimes the center “vein” in the feather is really bothersome. I think it depends on whether the feather is floofy-floopy or whether it seems to have just been steamed to stand straight up!
I always had mixed feelings about this hat. I think that when the feather catches wind it doesn’t look that flattering. I’d say a look with cleaner lines is the best for this hat. But yet, I prefer it with look #2. I think the lightness of the dress and the looser skirt work with the lightness of the feather.
#8 is definitely my favorite by far! #4 is my second choice as I think the short peplum jacket and skirt offer a good balance for the hat. I would like #7 more if it didn’t have the pocket flaps that lead to an odd pleat, but otherwise that’s a great outfit.
#2 is the winner for me, but an honourable mention for look #8. I know that some of the looks are not particularly flattering, but this post has reminded me what a good line the Duchess has in clean cuts, fluted silhouettes, tasteful colours. Well done to her stylist!
I picked the same looks as my faves.
THis hat divides opinion, but I have always liked it, and Camilla makes it work so well as one of her neutral staples. I think there’s another one too, (which may be my favourite) where she wore it with a grey and white brocade coat which she wore in 2013 to a Garden Party with a pregnant Kate.
Anyways, I prefer it with tailored outfits, it provides a good counterbalance, whereas with more floaty dresses there is oto much movement. She seems to have worked this out, as the tailoring has been uipped lately. I really like look 6 as it’s quite unusual for her, but look 7 is actually just beautiful.
How could I forget this one?! The patterned coat is really lovely with the hat. The post has been updated- that’s NINE different looks for this hat!
It is lovely isn’t it! I’m not sure if I should be proud or concerned about my ‘encyclopaedic knowledge’!!
It’s your super power. Be proud!
Look 8 for me too, because the modern lines of the coat balance the somewhat dramatic 1900’s look of the hat.
I like the cream silk dress with one button coat best. It is such a busy hat it needs a really streamlined outfit IMHO. All the outfits are a little “too much biscuit ” to be favorites for me.
Honestly, nothing can make this hat look like anything but my little Maltese dog’s topknot. It’s awfully cute on my dog (and incidentally the perfect anchor for her tiara), but it’s not so good on Camilla. The coat in look number 8 is nice, but that hat isn’t doing it any favors.
I like Look 3 the best – the slight shimmer to the garments goes well with the gleam of the underbrim. The sleek look is a good one on HRH.
Side note: what on earth is that thing all the gents are looking at in Look 3 Photo 1??
I like #7 the best of all. The streamlined coat plays off the highly textured feathers very well.
I can’t say I really like the dress in look 6, but in terms of how the hat goes with the various outfits, I’m left thinking that it’s actually very versatile, and, as others have said, good value! It goes well with all of them, there aren’t any pairings that leave me thinking something else would be better. That isn’t to say that I don’t have favourites. I think look 2 is a lovely garden party look while my overall favourite use is Look 7. I think this is a great hat for Camilla, it plays to her strengths in terms of exploiting her ability to wear really large statement hats and look good and well-balanced in them. I also think that when she’s wearing it, she is surely always going to be the person with the most splendid hat present at any given event, and given her position, that’s as it should be!
Just a note to point out that these pix show TWO similar hats 🙂 One has an upturned side brim. It also appears that the feathers have been slightly rearranged or revamped over the years. BTW, I love this site, visit it weekly ❤
It’s the same hat- sometimes, Camilla has placed the hat so the upswept part of the brim is further back on the side of her head. From the front, when worn this way, the brim looks quite flat. The feathers are also subject to dramatic movement with even the slightest breeze!
I like Look 3 best but really all ‘looks’ are great. good on Camilla for getting so much use out of what would have been a very expensive hat.
Look #8 for me.
for me too