Members of Monaco’s royal family gathered yesterday to celebrate their country’s National Holiday. Princess Charlene used the occasion to debut a new hat in black felt with small, domed button crown and wide cartwheel brim.The pyramid shaped design is a style departure for Charlene that pairs well with her graphic coat.
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Previously Worn: This hat is new
Princess Gabriella sported a sweet cream hair bow on the right side of her head.
Princess Caroline topped her Chanel bouclé suit in a dark teal fedora hat trimmed with a cream lace hatband. The colour is lovely on her but there’s something about the mix of coat, hat and hatband combination that is at odds for me and the ensemble doesn’t draw harmoniously together (and I usually love a fedora!).
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Previously Worn: This hat is new
Tatiana Casiraghi wore patent leather bow headpiece with a swath of tulle veil. Her daughter India wore a sweet navy silk hair bow.
Designer: Philip Treacy
Previously Worn: This headpiece is new
Beatrice Casiraghi also wore a headpiece, hers with a looped chocolate velvet bow and long, curved quills that arched over her head. There’s a lovely sense of scale and movement on this design and I adore how the velvet bow links with the chocolate velvet trim on Beatrice’s camel coat.
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Previously Worn: This headpiece is new
Princess Alexandra of Hanover also went with a velvet headpiece, hers a layered black bow on a headband base. The bow placement is a bit twee, even for 19-year old Alexandra, but the scale, colour and luxurious sheen of the velvet coordinates well with her bouclé coat. We’ve not seen this young princess in many (or any?) pieces of millinery and I’m looking forward to seeing how she follows the sophisticated style of her mother and older sister.
Previously Worn: This headpiece is new
Princess Stephanie wore a black leather headband while her eldest daughter, Pauline Ducruet, wore a formed black felt tricorn calot hat with bumper style indented crown. The small hat has a 1940s vibe to it emphasized by the saucy angle Pauline placed it on her head.
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Designer of Pauline’s hat: Nina Ricci
Previously Worn:
Melanie de Massy, daughter of Prince Albert’s first cousin, Baroness Elisabeth-Anne de Massy, repeated her black felt Garbo hat. I suspect Baroness Elisabeth-Anne was also in attendance- as soon as I locate a photograph, I’ll update the post. Feel free to post a link if you’ve spotted her anywhere!
Royal Hats 
Charlene’s hat is simple, but very chic. Obviously Dior New Look inspired, but she wears it well without looking retro, but I thought at first it was a very simple Philip Treacy hat as the overall shape is similar to this one worn by Queen Silvia: https://royalhats.net/2016/04/30/birthday-celebration-swedish-king/. I did think her outfit overall seemed too bulky with the combination of the square jacket, long skirt, and suede boots; either shorten the skirt, lengthen or tailor the coat, or change the boots for some pumps and I think it would help things. I do love the collar on her coat!
Caroline outfit doesn’t stray far from her usual Chanel style, and I very much applaud the use of teal, but the lace hatband just looks cheap, and clashes with the bouclé. A simple teal, black, or white grosgrain hatband would make a world of difference.
I like the concept of Tatiana’s fascinator, but it looks to be about sliding off her head in some photos.
Beatrice stuns again, as she almost always does. I’m not really a fan of brown, but she wears it well here, and this Treacy fascinator does the trick of being dramatic without going overboard. Brava!
How is Princess Alexandra 19 years old? The idea of this fascinator is okay, but I think if the bow was on a percher beret cocktail base, it would mature the look for her.
Stephanie is Stephanie, but I do like that red coat for her. Pauline’s hat would look much better if it was placed over her forehead instead of looking like it’s about to fall off the back of her head.
Love Charlene’s hat – it reminds me of one that one of the York sisters wore for this past Ascot or maybe it was tea parties.
Beatrice just looks perfect. She has such style and rarely puts a foot wrong.
Charlene hat is interesting. It reminds me of the Dior New Look style.
I like the colour and design of Caroline’s hat. I guess the lace is to stops it from looking too casual.
Stephanie just always looks grim. She would look better if she would stop scraping her hair back so severely too. I did think her coat was lovely
Question: You refer to Tatiana and Beatrice’s headwear as headpieces. Can I ask if there is a difference between them and a fascinator?
Whilst I like Charlene’s hat the rest of her outfit is a bit ‘meh’ for me. The coat just isn’t anything special. Caroline is ‘as per’ but I actually like the hat on this one. I really like Pauline’s early Princess Di tricorn too.
But Beatrice! That woman is chic as hell, and this camel outfit with saucy little headband is wintry chic at its best. By far my best of the day.
Well said! Especially the part about Beatrice. She stuns at every opportunity. Her coat is very reminiscent of Jackie Kennedy’s inauguration coat, but modernized. Really, really beautiful.
I think the problem with Caroline’s outfit is the hatband. Lace doesn’t seem to relate to the rest of the outfit and it looks out of place to me. I love the color and the fedora shape looks good, so it’s gotta be the hatband. I love Beatrice’s outfit. I usually don’t like camel colored coats on blondes, but the chocolate collar and head piece with the fabulous style of this coat is changing my mind just this once! It seems like Char wore a pyramid shaped hat to this event once before that we adored, but I can’t find it right now. Stephanie would look much better if she didn’t pull her hair straight back. The headband isn’t doing anything for her or the outfit, though she looks good in this red coat. It is so wonderful to see all the children. The family is growing. Alexandra looks so grown up in her suit. I am not sure what I think of her head piece yet.
You’re right- Princess Charlen wore a black and white pyramid shaped hat by Rachel Trevor Morgan which became our favourite hat of the year in 2016.
That’s the one! Thank you HatQueen for pointing that out. I thought it was the hat of the year, but for some reason when I went back through the favorites that one didn’t come up for me.
K2classroom, the shape of Charlene’s made me think of the 2016 RTM, too. That was such a beauty! This one looks austere by comparison, but it does work well with the coat.
I agree that it’s the lace that doesn’t look right on Caroline’s fedora.
And Beatrice really works these dramatic headpieces!