Queen Elizabeth as joined by her granddaughter, Princess Eugenie of York, today for this year’s Royal Maundy Thursday service which was held at St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle.
For this service, the Queen repeated her yellow straw hat with a tall crown and gently angled brim, trimmed with a triple pleated hatband, yellow arrow trimmed feathers and a large folded straw bow. Interestingly, turquoise, royal blue and purple goose biot feathers have been added to this hat since its first outing (below left):
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It’s a good hat for Queen Elizabeth with great proportions and scale. While I understand the addition of the coloured feathers to link with the turquoise patterned dress of this ensemble, I think I prefer the hat in its original state- more streamlined but not boring in the least.
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Designer: Rachel Trevor Morgan. Coat and dress by Stuart Parvin.
Previously Worn: June 21, 2017
Princess Eugenie topped her floral dress with a navy straw pillbox hat embellished with a straw plait around the side of the design. The dark hat is a great counterpoint for the dress (and a great compliment to her grandmother’s ensemble, something I can’t imagine is coincidental!) and a colour that Eugenie wears well. This is a good look for her that fits well on what is clearly, a beautiful spring day.
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Designer: Juliette Botterill. It is a bespoke version of the “Pleated Pillbox” from SS 2018 Dress by Erdem.
Previously Worn: This hat is new
After our look at more than 60 previous hats Queen Elizabeth has worn to Maundy Thursday services over the years, how does this one compare? What do you think of those newly added feathers?
Photos from Getty as indicated
Royal Hats 
The Queen’s hat is delightfully exuberant for Easter. It’s like her version of an Easyer bonnet.
Princess Eugenie’s pillbox is gorgeous! I feel like you can rarely go wrong with a pillbox hat and this might be one of my favourite variations of a pillbox I’ve seen with the shine of the silk material and the detail of the plaited edging. It’s a gorgeous colour against Eugenie’s hear too.
*Easter bonnet
I really like the hat with this extra colourful featheriness, it goes so well both with the traditional posy and with the spring-and-Easter occasion in general. If one didn’t have a HatQueen to take notes, or wasn’t that observant, I’m not sure it would be apparent that extra trim had been added – it just looks like fine feathery trim backed by more solid yellow trim, and I think would be seen as intentionally exuberant. I suspect it’s only because we have the other wearing to make a comparison that we’re talking about it so much.
Just saw that this dress is a repeat from Ascot https://royalhats.net/2018/06/21/ascot-day-3-princess-eugenie/ The Ascot hat was fun and inventive, but I think this pillbox works better with the floral print.
I usually consider HM to be exempt from “matchy-matchy” critiques, but this time I want to say “enough already”! The original hat was wonderful and did not need to be changed. I suppose, though, the colorful additions tied her outfit back to Eugenie’s, so that’s a plus. Hopefully they will put it back for the next outing, though.
Love everything about Eugenie’s outfit, and hope we will see it again in the future.
Eugenie has worn a similar hat before, it was just lighter blue. I really like them both for her, but prefer the more vibrant blue.
She wore a version of this same Juliette Botterill hat design in a vibrant blue felt. A felt hat, however, would have looked quite out of season yesterday! I think navy was the right colour to both coordinate with her dress, and with her grandmother’s ensemble.
I really like the colorful explosion on HM’s hat, however . . . there’s too much going on with both the original yellow trim and the added dimension. To me, it looks like a last-minute thought: “let’s slap some color on to match the dress and flowers.” I say either one trim or the other, but not both. I’ll bet a yellow inventory would surprise a lot of us, especially with so many new examples of that category in just the last 5 years. (hint hint)
Eugenie’s hat looks better when she is out in the sunshine, where the color contrast between the navy and her beautiful hair is more evident. I have never been a pillbox fan, as they often look like they could easily fall off, defying gravity, even though they’re well secured in place. Is it my imagination, or do the wearers sometimes tend to tilt their heads forward?
I think I prefer the yellow hat without the colourful additions. They’re not terrible, it’s just that the original hat is quite lovely and the yellow feather trim added enough embellishment, I thought.
It’s wonderful to see Eugenie supporting her Grandmother, and she looks lovely and appropriate. Maybe the scale of the braided pillbox is a little small (?) but other than that, it’s a great hat.
I think I join everyone else on this; I love how the feathers tie the dress in with the hat better, they’re fun and exuberant, and perfect for a lovely sunny day. But the execution is a bit random, i feel they’ve just been stuffed in a bit. Would have been far better to remove the previous trim and start again.
I like Eugenie’s hat but the dress I can’t be on board with. She looks really enclosed by that high collar, she’s got a lovely figure with wonderful curves and looks so much better in lower necklines and fuller skirts. She looks
Like she had a lovely day with her Granny though, so that’s all that matters.
MrFitzroy would add in the congratulations to our HatQueen…..it’s not enough to write well researched and interesting posts, color prediction now tips it all over the top!
Other commenters have already mentioned the major points — you are all an astute bunch!
MrFitzroy did like the hat previously, quite a bit in fact.
But today’s little festive splash was not a bad thing, and clearly meant to harmonize with the bouquet, which does not vary from year to year……the only quarrel would be that the new hat decor is so exuberant that is could be seen as an interpretation of the bouquet deconstructing (one hesitates to use the term exploding). oh, Just MrFitzroy sees that? Never mind! HM, as always, looks appropriate and wonderful! Nice to see Eugenie!
I love the new feathers on the hat. And the big group photo (top pane, click through) is just stunning! The gold and teal of the clerics harmonizes with the Queen’s yellow and the children’s dark teal sweaters backed by the mass of scarlet uniforms. And everything looks fresher against the white sashes and dark robes. A perfect set of complementary colors!
I like the idea of adding these colored feathers, but I don’t care for the execution as they seem too random placed, at least in comparison with the rest of the trim, especially as we’ve seen the solid yellow trim previously. But despite my hesitation to 100% fully embrace these feathers, I’m so happy to see this hat return as it is perhaps my favorite yellow hat for HM. And congratulations HatQueen for the correct prediction of the color; will you also be as lucky come Ascot? 😉
Certainly not my favorite hat for Eugenie, but it’s a nice one for her, and her whole ensemble is well-coordinated; I especially like the color coordination of the hat and her heels.
I’m surprised that no one has mentioned (at least not yet) how perfectly the newly decorated hat coordinates with the bouquet HM is holding — I feel quite sure that the additional color was added for that purpose rather than for a retroactive coordination with the dress beneath the coat! I think it will be fine if the hat is returned to solid yellow for some other future wearing, but for today’s appearance, it was just perfect.
Eugenie’s hat additionally was well-suited to the occasion and set off the pattern on her dress very attractively. I particularly like the braided edging. While recognizing that I haven’t been looking at hats nearly as long as many of you, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a hat quite like this one before.
Thank you HatQueen for this week’s posts! For some reason I love Maundy Thursday! I do like this yellow hat and it’s new trimmings. It’s very Easter season & spring appropriate! I’m so happy that Eugenie got to come to today’s services. Bea got to go with when it was at York Cathedral and I always hoped Eugenie would get a turn too. In fact now that DoE is retired, it would be nice to bring a grandkid or great-grand along every year.
I love Princess Eugenie’s hair and hat. Please note Royal ladies who are inexplicably fans of the donut- this is a full hat and so much more wonderful for it.
In general I prefer the Queens initial look but I cant help but love that her hat is basically decorated with easter feathers!
I’ll admit- the feathers have grown on me today because they are so happy! I just wonder if they’re overboard….
Sounds like I’m in the minority since I like the exuberant feathers in the re-trimmed yellow hat.
The pillbox is a great style for Eugenie, the braiding on the sides adds a lot of interest to a subdued color and style.
Hat Queen, you must be clairvoyant to foresee that Queen E. would be wearing yellow today, or otherwise you had inside information! I love the group pictures where HM’s yellow ensemble blends with the yellow mitre and the yellow accessories of the clergymen.
I like the addition of the brightly coloured, delicate little goose feathers: I’m all in favour of some colour contrast.
Princess Eugenie looks very elegant, it is a pleasure to see her find her own style.
Neither clairvoyant nor any inside information! Just a lucky guess! And I’m growing to like the colour contrast those feathers provide- as another commenter noted, it’s very Easter-y!
Or perhaps someone at the Palace reads this and thought your prediction a good idea!
At first glance in the first photo I saw, it looked like HM had plucked a sprig from her nosegay to put in her hat, the colours match so well!
Like other commenters, I’m pleased to see Eugenie, and in a proper hat, not a headband.
While I thought it was odd that the Queen’s hat, on its initial outing, was a solid yellow even though the turquoise+ dress clearly shows, I’m not convinced that this multi-colored fluff is the answer. It looks as though a can on confetti exploded out of the hat.
I suppose the solid yellow hat would look a little odd when worn just with the dress, and I support the idea of some turquoise somewhere on the hat, though. but small pieces of turquoise and purple fabric near the triple pleated hatband might have been a better bet.
I love HM’s bright, cheery yellow hat. I don’t mind the new colorful feathers, but I do prefer the full yellow in it’s previous outing.
Princess Eugenie’s hat is lovely. I particularly like the braid incorporated in it – it adds some interest.
Great show all around!