King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima arrived in Ireland yesterday for the start of a three-day visit.
For this arrival, Queen Máxima wore a new khaki green straw rounded pillbox hat trimmed with a double folded row of the same shimmering green-gold fabric as on her dress.
The dress is inspired by the gold stacked necklaces worn by the African Ndebele tribe and… well, it’s a strong look. The gladiator vibe of the dress and all of its gold trimmings needs a simple hat to balance it and this one fits the bill. It’s not my favourite colour on Máxima, nor am I convinced its placement, nearly vertically on the back of her head, is great but I have to concede it was likely the best choice for this dress. The ensemble is a smartly subtle nod to Irish green- not obvious but clearly, still deliberate.
Designer: unconfirmed. Dress by Claes Iversen
Previously Worn: This hat is new
I suspect there will be opinions on this outfit- so, dearest readers, what do you think of this hat?!
Photos from Getty as indicated
Royal Hats 
I love the color and the Queen is such a nice smiling woman that you can’t dislike her. But I wonder if I am the only one to see how bad the trimming of the hat looks. It doesn’t wrap the crown evenly, I can see lots of creases around the edge and on the top. It seems like if the fabric was not in bias.
I loved the day dress it is so unusual but Maxima rocks it. I love all the gold and the bangles and until I saw your photos here I had not seen that the fabric is shimmery too. The hat is perfect for this outfit and even the placement of it works on this occasion.
Again, not one of her best looks. She is a lovely woman with a beautiful smile, but she looks unpolished here.
Dress definitely looks like metallic beige on my monitor… Not green at all, even very subtly, so I’ll have to take your word for it. The hat goes quite well with the outfit. Not much more to say abut it, really…
Dress looks olive greenish on my small (older) tablet, metallic brownish on my laptop, and pure beige not metallic at all on this larger newer tablet – it’s just one of those colors!
It’s certainly a chameleon!
I love everything about this outfit. We are so used to seeing a dramatic Máxima in vibrant colors and BIG hats. She wears that look so well. But this subtle look also has its charms, with just a bit of pizazz in the gold embellishments.
I believe I would have liked this hat much better if the trim had included some of the gold decor on the sleeves rather than just the fabric of the dress, for better contrast. As it is, it blends in too much with her hair. For example, in the first photo of the first gallery, when I first viewed that photo on my small tablet, I didn’t even realize she was wearing a hat. (Though I could see the hat much better on a larger version of the same photo.)
That being said, this unusual shade is nothing like the green that most people associate with Ireland, which is unfortunate, because I think Maxima looks very nice in that brighter color. I am puzzled as to why she would wear such an African-inspired style on a visit to Ireland, although perhaps the Dutch never make official visits to African countries — I am not that familiar with their international relations.
Two other comments — putting the photos side by side, I do agree with Jake that Mrs. Higgins’ hat is very similar to the 2016 Belgian hat he linked to, so he may be on to something. And one more thing that has nothing to do with hats. The heels of the shoes of all the younger royal women seem to be getting higher and higher with every passing year. Looking at the very last photo in the last gallery, I feel like Maxima’s heels on those shoes are even higher than what she usually wears. I don’t know how the women do it!
From afar it looked like she wasn’t wearing a hat, I don’t know who designed it but maybe it was meant to be a simple addition to the dress. A bit of an afterthought.
Gonna say no to this because of that awful color. It’s like it can’t make up its mind to be gold, khaki, a brown sage, or a faded chartreuse (*shudder*), and it blends in with her hair and complexion, as JamesB said. My love of sci-fi definitely approves of the sleeves, although I don’t know that this was the correct occasion for them. Máxima has a couple of gorgeous green dresses she could’ve worn with a neutral hat to give a better nod to Ireland without going overboard in a matching hat, and I wish she had done that instead of this. The hat itself is okay, but certainly not a standout.
I wonder if Sabina Coyne Higgins is wearing a Delvigne hat? It looks like a subtle magenta version of this hat: https://royalhats.net/2016/10/15/belgian-monarchs-wrap-up-state-visit-to-japan/.
Sabina Coyne Higgins’s piece is by Gwen Walsh at Breathnach Designs, Kells Mill in Ireland.
Thanks, Ann. It’s a beauty.
I have to agree with you on this awful color, which does nothing for its striking wearer. The style of the hat itself isn’t bad, and I like the use of the second color. But, since we’ve been observing construction problems in Max’s hats lately, doesn’t the fabric band seem puckered at the bottom?
Mrs. Higgins hats up very nicely.
Mrs. Higgins wears exclusively Irish millinery, I believe.
Maxima wore A LOT of emerald green for the evening banquet, so a more subtle colour for day makes sense:
Dazzling! Yes, I can see why she went for the more subtle green for the day appearance.
Once again, I’m admiring Mrs. Higgins. It can’t be easy appearing with a glamorous younger woman with access to a gobsmacking jewel collection, but she holds her own!
Ooh I’m going to dissent. I can’t say I’m a fan. I like the detailing and the shape… it’s just the colour. It washes her out and is so drab. Also it’s the same colour as her hair, so it all just looks like a whole lotta beige with gold sprinkles.
I love it too! Hellooo, Xena Warrior Princess! it’s interesting how both the ‘tribal” sleeve detailing and the dress style overall look so natural on this Queen’s athletic figure. The unusual greeny-gold neutral colour looks amazing next to her dark blonde hair and skin, and the initially shocking sleeve embellishments (at first I thought Maxima had embraced mega bangle-stacking, a la Iris Apfel!) – are presented as part of a look so well thought out that I can’t wait to try it myself (preferably with lowsheen antique trims, instead of all the shiny metallics :)).
The dress does have some issues- the skirt doesn’t seem to be lined, the hem is odd, and the open leg split looks untidy – but the hat is just right. The pillbox is a model of restraint, the perfect accessory for keeping the drama of the sleeves under control — the Queen could easily have worn a slice hat and got away with it — but a pillbox is a nice lowkey touch, and I also love the placement as worn with this hairstyle.
I love it! From afar, I though Maxima was in bright pink, haha! 😉
I love the strong look of the coat and I find the hat to be the right one for this outfit.