Continuing our look at the hats worn yesterday to Christmas service in Norfolk, we jump to the York princesses. Princess Beatrice repeated her wide brimmed fedora, a hat that doesn’t exactly stand out but that works on her very well nonetheless.
Embed from Getty Images
Embed from Getty Images
Designer: unknown. Coat by Claire Mischevani.
Previously Worn: November 19, 2014
Princess Eugenie topped a stunning red and black coat with a black duchess silk hand-made bandeau headpiece with ruched center. The placement feels awkwardly too far forward toward her forehead- I think the piece would have worked much better worn over the crown of her head.
Designer: Emily London; it is a bespoke version of the “Ellen” design. Coat by Andrew Gn.
Previously Worn: This hat is new
The Countess of Wessex wore a new hat, described by the designer as “bespoke wet look velvet cocktail hat with vintage veil.” Cocktail hats of this scale and style are a common choice for Sophie which is a shame, as the beautiful details of this one (the sheen of the velvet, the lovely molded shape of the base, the very finely woven veil) are lost a bit in the sense that we’ve seen this before on her.
Previously Worn: This hat is new
Lady Louise Windsor topped her streamlined ecru coat with an angled beret percher hat in animal print felt. The bold shape, which is elevated on one side, and the daring print are stand out from all the hats we’ve seen Louise wear to date, something that fills me with joy and happy claps. I adore watching this young royal hat wearer find her millinery style through experimenting with new shapes, styles and, in this case, prints and admire the confidence it took to choose and carry off this design.
Previously Worn: This hat is new
Previously Worn: Apr 1, 2018
Autumn Phillips topped her forest green coat with a matching hand-blocked beret percher hat in peachbloom felt trimmed with a crystal pearl studded flying bow. I really like how this beret’s shape, with its gentle curves, becomes its focal point, magically making that bow appear to be a far more subtle detail than it actually is. The hat is so beautifully balanced and its very festive colour looks wonderful on Autumn.
Designer: Sally Ann Provan. It is a bespoke version of the ‘Sora’ design. Coat by Claire Mischevani.
Previously Worn: This hat is new
Zara Tindall wore an eye-catching hat described by the designer as a “thistle purple felt mini sloped beret trimmed with deep purple felt and bronze leather leaves”. Zara wears such quirky statement percher hats so well and this design, with its punchy colour and strong sense of movement thanks to the leaf trim, does no overwhelm her. I love an unexpected colour pairing that works and on Zara, the navy and purple combination in this ensemble is great.
Embed from Getty Images
Embed from Getty Images
Designer: Sarah Cant. It is the “Cyclamen” design from AW 2016. Coat by Hugo Boss.
Previously Worn: This hat is new
Royal Hats 
I am a great respecter of the milliner’s art but £335 for Eugenie’s not very exciting hairband seems excessive to me.
I liked Autumn’s hat but would have preferred it without the mullet coat. An even hemline would have looked chic, the mullet just looks showy.
Autumn Phillips is my favourite from head to toe. Followed by Louise’s cute jaunty beret.
Really enjoyed the whole look for the Princess Royal today. Beatrice hat suits her very well. Eugenie’s just looks like the kind of band I put on my hair at home when I want.it out of the way. Sophie’s hat is fine but rather unremarkable.
I like Zara’s hat design but I feel it looks too small on her head. I think she looks better in bigger hats that balance her out.
Hello HatQueen and all hat lovers, hope you had a wonderful Christmas!
What a lovely bunch of hat & coat combi’s in this post to look at. My favourite is Princess Anne’s (and bless her, she has such a good figure), and for me she may repeat it as often as she wants, but that’s because turquoise is my favourite colour.
Princess Beatrice’s fedora might have worked better with a different coat: the round collar is a bit girlish to combine with a gent’s style hat. I love the lining of Autumn Phillips’ coat, but I can’t help wondering what her percher would have looked liked if she had tilted it a bit more to the right side of her face, the way the Countess of Wessex is wearing hers. Sophie positions her hats to perfection, which helps to give her this polished, elegant look she is known for. (As most of you, I am a bit disappointed by her hat though: a black hat with black trimming doesn’t seem to strike the right notre here.)
I very much like Lady Louise’s animal print beret, only the colour combination with her pale coat is a bit mèh (as my daughters would call it), but that will no doubt get better in the future, as she will own more different coats and hats when she’ll grow up.
Thank you HatQueen for a very enjoyable year of hat news. I hope you have time to rest and relax over the holidays to start the new year afresh!
*the right note, not notre
Lady Louise she is playing with her hat style and I like it, it shows courage at that age, well done, I hope she keeps exploring.
Autumn’s and Zara’s hats are wonderful a joy to watch
Hi HatQueen and everyone,
I found the overall collection of hats for this event very satisfying to watch. I have to disagree however with the colour combination of Zara’s coat and hat. To me it is not pleasing to the eye at all!
My favourite has to be Autumn’s amazing beret. I’m a sucker for green and for berets in general (Meghan’s is quite nice, too) so this is absolutely what I fall for.
Happy Holidays!
Greetings Hatters! Hope all had a Happy Christmas! MrFitzroy has been under the weather with health issues the past few months, but now getting past that, and happy to return to such a festive and fantastic group as you all! May 2019 bring a wonderful year ahead.
It was certainly a lovely group of gifts from the Windsors in the form of Christmas hats! Despite HM slight detour to Camilla pirate territory, who will fault her wonderful smiles and the clear pride she takes in her family.
While it turned out not, Lady Louise, on first glimpse (in other photos) appeared to be wearing a toque, and a not insignificant channeling of Queen Mary. Of course on closer view, it’s a lovely, fun, and appropriate hat for her, and it will be very exciting in years to come to see her fashion and millinery sense continue to mature, with, no doubt, the tutelage of her exceptionally stylish mother.
The rest of the family mostly fared quite well in their customary territories, making for a most lovely Christmas tableau overall.
Well done Windsors! — and slightly advanced New Years good wishes for our dear HatQueen, and the wonderful readers and commenters of this blog! MrFitzroy is so glad to be back!
And we’re so glad to have you back!
Autumn’s hat is my favorite. Those curves emphasize the shape of the beret and add a lot of life to the monochromatic ensemble. The bow detail is just right.
I’m not a fan of animal prints, but Lady Louise’s beret is fun for a younger royal.
Glad to see Anne repeat her snappy turquoise fedora, although the feather trim is a little too floppy.
Interesting to see that many are underwhelmed by Sophie’s perfectly lovely hat. I think we just have higher expectations for her!
Autumn Phillips looks gorgeous. What a wonderful hat! The size, the color, the fabric. All perfect. And it has a wonderful movement.
I like Beatrice in her Fedora. I do wonder if it’s the right style for the occasion. But it goes well with the rest of her outfit.
Eugenie: I love her coat and I like that she tried to do something different. Could have been better though.
I don’t like the style of Zara’s hat. It looks soooo tiny.
Sophie can do much better than this.
On the whole I think the family made a good showing, but there are actually few hats that I feel were complete successes. Eugenie’s bow headband is unexciting. Beatrice looks good in her fedora, but yes, to me, it does feel a bit wrong for church (I appreciate that this is a sort of informal occasion with a far from strict dress code, but on the other hand, it is also a well-known occasion when tons of photos are taken, and the hats on the other ladies to me seem a bit more formal).
Autumn’s is one I can get behind unequivocally. In two more instances, I really like the hats of themselves, but I don’t feel they are good paired with the rest of the outfit. Sophie’s hat is too small given the bulk of her coat. And Zara, whose hat as so often looks beautiful in close up shots, suffers from the same problem as she almost always does with her favoured perchers, namely that they don’t balance the rest of her body in the look as a whole. Something with a brim would be a much better choice.
Beatrice looked good, but I just don’t find the crown shape of this wide brim fedora flattering for her; I think it’s a bit too conical for her face. Also, it seems a bit casual for the event for my tastes, but that’s a personal problem haha.
Eugenie’s red and black outfit was fantastic, but it called for a crimson hat (I’d choose cocktail or structured wide brim), not this boring black headband. A missed opportunity for outfit greatness!
While a fine hat for Sophie, it definitely feels like we’ve seen this whole look before and I’m quite bored with her pairing black hats with colorful coats, especially when the hat looks more appropriate for a funeral. Something in grey or winter white would’ve been more unexpected.
I really like this larger and structured beret for Louise! My only complaint is I wish she would’ve worn grey or black shoes to help tie in the hat more to her outfit.
Nothing new from Anne, but she still looks great in this hat and outfit. It is a bit odd she chose to wear it on both of the biggest Christian holidays of the same year, however.
Autumn was definitely the best dressed and hatted IMO. She just continues to impress and be one of the best dressed British royals. I can’t say the same for Peter this time, however, as he wears a brown coat, a grey scarf, navy trousers (presumably a whole suit), and black shoes; too many neutrals that shouldn’t be paired together!
I love this vibrant violet for Zara, but I think the size of this cocktail hat is just a bit too small for her. A different hairstyle, like a side chignon, may help, but I feel things are a bit unbalanced when I look at her face and hat straight on.
This day brings a feast of fine hats – very exciting!
Beatrice: THIS is what I like to see. Beatrice and wide-brimmed hats are made for each other, but what a long way she has come since she last wore this hat in 2014. Gone are the clunky footwear and bulky coat. In their place is a relaxed, balanced outfit; and with this hat style, her freeflowing hair strikes just the right note. Most improved.
Autumn: best in field. the hat shape is so perfect for her, and how amazing is that coatdress and those matching green shoes! The colour is rather intense for this pale-eyed blonde, but I’m still awarding her first place.
Eugenie: not a flattering headband. I’d prefer to see a large bow or large trim off to one side, as with those 2 black headpieces she has worn previously.
Sophie: great hat, great coat, a faultless look. Style mastery at work.
Lady Louise: so great to see her step up from girly headpieces to something more suited to the statuesque young woman she is already. The coat is a bit overwhelming on her, but the hat (and shoes) are right on.
Anne: I was a bit put off the first time around by the matchiness of this ensemble (on top of the matchiness of the accessories) – perhaps because it’s such a close approximation of HM’s style –but it’s grown on me. Anne looks terrific in a fedora, the coat is a great fit, and the colour is vibrant and flattering.
Zara: perchers are her go-to, and this colour scheme is perfect for her. I still wish Zara would choose perchers with more height and larger bases; this one, like others before it, still feels too small for her proportions. Actually, what I miss seeing her in is a really dramatic fedora.
And I hope you are having a happy holiday, HatQueen!
I adore Autumn Phillips’ hat with it’s movement and bow, and combined with her stunning jacket, she was best dressed for me out of all the Royals. I think Autumn’s style this year has been gorgeous and I look forward to what she brings in 2019.
Lady Louise’s hat is fun and age appropriate and she looked comfortable. With her mom as her guide, she’s going to be quite the stylish lady in years to come.
Although Princess Anne and Princess Beatrice both wore repeats, they looked quite stylish. The fedora style works so well on both of them.
Thank you for the great posts Hat Queen! Merry Christmas to you!