During last summer’s lull of royal hats, we explored some of the extremes of Queen Elizabeth’s hat closet (biggest bows, tallest crowns, widest brims). We’re going to continue with similar weekly questions this summer, beginning again in Queen Elizabeth’s wardrobe but don’t worry- after this, we’ll dive into all other contemporary hat closets as well.
We kick things off today with a garden theme: Which one of Queen Elizabeth’s hats hosts the largest flower?
Royal Hats 
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Wow, you sure have made her interesting. WHat super creative hat makers. Many years ago I had a hat made when I got married and I think I wore a casual dress. But I really loved my hat. Thanks
Here’s a fun coincidence- today, Rachel Trevor Morgan shared this snap of some huge blooms on her work table. I wonder if any similar ones are destined to trim a new hat for the Queen?!
i wonder if this hat, when viewed from above, would look like one giant flower?
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A reader who wishes to remain anonymous sent this fascinating hat to share. See the back at better view here– it’s not a design I remember seeing before and it’s quite something!
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It’s hard to tell from this photo, but is it more of a bow than a flower? Fascinating photo, though, with HM crouching under the low tent. We don’t often see her shaking hands with anyone seated on the ground.
Wonderful photo! This hat looks like a cousin to the Nelson Mandela hat a year earlier.
July 9, 1996
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Hi Ali, I believe all of the above hats to be trimmed with multiple flowers, rather than just one big one. Would you agree? I like all of them, mind, they’re very pretty.
No. It no say just one flower. It say biggest flower. It can be more flower on hat but measure big one.
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Oooh, this is a great suggestion. I’ve completely forgot about this hat!
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Here’s a comparison view:
Wonderful montage, thanks Saturday much HQ.
The flower on the green cloche in the bottom row is ENORMOUS!! As mittenmary said (about the b/w pillbox in the row above), “it’s like a flower trimmed with a hat”. The perfect observation.
Wow, I had no idea there were so many huge flowers on Lilibet’s hats! I’m also surprised no one included this hat my very favorite.
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Joanne, your coral selection WAS my favorite also! Remember, someone recently got a hold of it and altered it, much to everyone’s dismay here at Royal Hats?. Sad. Anyway, you chose possibly the largest flower yet, save the green one in HQ’s original post. That was a whopper!
I don’t know, Jimbo- the yellow one Eliza posted is also huge (as big as HM’s face, as Mr.Fitzroy commented!). Which is bigger- this coral rose in its original form or the dark green cloche in the post or the yellow Ascot hat with the pink flower?
Here’s a link to the post detailing the perplexing change to the coral rose hat. That was one of my favourites, too.
Well, the only recurring thing in all these pictures is HM’s royal NOSE. I blew up each flower, (not her nose!) and after measuring said common denominator, I “walked” the distance across each example, and my conclusion? The coral hat’s flower wins – by a nose! Clearly not very scientific, and this is all tongue-in-cheek, with no disrespect intended!
I’m going for a Beefeaters now!
Hmmm… the coral flower does look widest. It’s hard to compare against the dark green cloche, where the flower is completely round.
I like this one too – it’s a very exaggerated flower with all the petals, but it’s still recognisable as a single flower.
Such a fun post to wake up to! These are all wonderful hats to admire.
The hat that immediately came to my mind is the yellow embroidered one from her 90th birthday service of thanksgiving.
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London, 2005
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I like this one
1952 (the caption’s in French but the location is ‘unspecified)
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Epsom Downs racecourse, 1955
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This one is more like a flower trimmed with a hat, isn’t it?
Classic. I love your description!
India, 1983.
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Fantastic suggestions, Sandra. I don’t ever remember seeing this hat before!
Also (at least) worn to the Epsom Derby, 1982, but the photo above is a blinder, I reckon.
First up, HatQueen, you are KILLING it with these summer series! I don’t know how you think of all these new topics to cover but it keeps this blog so interesting! I’ve got my coworkers all reading it and we talk about the hats at lunch! One of my friends noticed that the office atmosphere is much more positive and lighthearted when we talk about hats than when we talk about politics or news.
I’ve been following the comments here and thinking about the Queen’s hats all day! There was one in my mind I wanted to share that I thought she wore to Zara’s wedding but, surprise, the hat at the wedding didn’t have any flowers at all! It’s a similar pink one. BTW, thanks, HQ for all the links back to posts and big events. It’s so easy to find things on this blog.
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Fiji, 1982 (and now I really must leave this fun and get back to work!).
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I’m only including this one because the flower is at the *back* of the hat. A nice treat for after she’s passed. Golden Jubilee Tour, England, 2002. Is this (a major detail at the back of a hat) something we’ve seen before HQ?
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Yes- here’s another hat with flower worn at the back that your comment and Jimbo’s below brought back to mind. The photos of the Queen wearing it are during a May 1987 visit to Germany. You’ve shared some GREAT hats, Sandra!
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A similar sort of hat from the Montreal Olympics, 1976. (Don’t the boys look young?)
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Yes, but they were young! This is another another memorable hat I’d forgotten about!
Is this the same flower?
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Good question. It’s very hard to tell without a better photo that shows the detail of this flower. I think the red flower on the white pillbox has more layers of petals, making me suspect they are different. I think the flower on the pillbox is also a bit bigger.
Here’s a better side view to compare. The flowers look very similar, and the red coat is in fact the same with both hats.
March 27, 1985: Portugal
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Jimbo, we can always count on you to crack a hat mystery. BRILLIANT find!! Those flowers look very similar and the dates correspond- the brimmed hat was worn in 1985 while the pillbox was worn in 1987. I suspect the large red flower was removed from one and put onto the other.
This definitely wins for largest flower to appear on two different hats!!
Couldn’t get anything closer than this, unfortunately. Northern Ireland, 2016.
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Here you go, Sandra!
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This one might better be in the leaves category, because the flower itself wouldn’t really be as big as some of the others if it weren’t surrounded by the leaves.
Not so much huge (well, it’s huge-ish) and just really badly placed. Paris, 2014
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If it were more exactly centered in the front, this one would bear somewhat of a resemblance to the headlamps worn by miners! I do like that fabric, though!
The flower seems to need more foliage, it just looks a bit lonely the way it is.
I agree 100%, Sandra! If I knew how to photoshop, I would create a mock-up of how the improved hat might look, but unfortunately, I have no skill at that software.
Exactly my first impression, then i read your comment!
I think it would also help if the hatband did not extend down, over the brim.
A subset in the floral category, absurdly large leaves, Braemar Games, 2018:
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Second entry in this category, Westminster Abbey, 2014.
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Save the ‘largest leaves’- we’ll look specifically at leaves in the future!
Yay again! This is so much fun …
HatQueen, I believe you said that we would eventually look at other royal hat closets, but it sounds like the suggestions being made here just for HM will keep us busy for years!
Well, there’s always next summer to continue…
Maybe proportional to its hat is a subset of this large flower category …Tuvalu, 1982.
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My apologies, HQ, you were there first (naturally) …
It’s all good- this is a much better view!
Here is one of my favourite ever hats on Queen Elizabeth. I forgot how big the flower was! Embed from Getty Images
Good job Eliza! That bloom is easily the same size as Her Majesty’s face!
Well, there was always this. Maybe it just seems big because it’s actually rather unattractive.
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Have to admit that this flower looks almost like it accidentally landed on this hat after falling off a different one. It’s not so much that it’s unattractive as it just doesn’t go!
This may not be the largest, but it sure is pretty. I miss seeing Philip.
July 1, 2010; Ottawa, Canada
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I googled and came up with one from this site; a beautiful red cloche noted in HM’s inventory of red hats. I don’t know how to add photos; this may not be the very largest flower, but it’s gorgeous!
Do you mean this hat?
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I do! Thankyou!
If you know the date a hat was worn, the easiest way to share a photos is to go to Getty Images and type in “Queen Elizabeth” and the date in the search box. A number of photos should come up in the search. Click on the one you want to share, and it should open in a new window. Scroll down to the bottom of the photo and click on the Embed box. A new box will open with a long standard code at the top- copy all of this and paste it in the comment. The photo should automatically show up in the comment.
If you want to share a specific photo from somewhere other than Getty, just post a link to it at its original source (please don’t post links to Pinterest).
HatQueen, it would be really helpful to have this post somewhere on the blog for future reference. A ‘How To’ page?
Great suggestion. The “About & Comments” tab at the top now contains this tutorial that you can access, any time.
Thanks for this! I’ll give it a try!
Hmmmmm….. Largest single flower is going to take some detective work! Perhaps what comes to MrFitroy’s mind first is the electric green ‘tribute to Audrey2’ hat HM wore at the D Day commemoration (and since). There seem to be a lot of hats which have one large-ish flower (or two or three) but the hats with one single — much larger ‘statement’ bloom seem a bit more elusive! Let the treasure hunt begin!
(Mr Fitzroy can’t wait will we get to ‘largest tassle’, or ‘biggest mass of flowers’!)
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Oooh, biggest mass of flowers, Marlborough House garden party, 1968!
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Save these for ‘most flowers’- that’s the discussion topic in a few weeks!
And thanks for the idea, MrFitzroy, for ‘biggest tassel!”
Yay!
The number of these hats that I actually remember from when they first appeared is making me feel exceedingly old!
This one stands alone as the most voracious flower. (I’m actually fond of this one!)
(This comment was meant to reply to Mr. Fitzroy about Audrey 2.)
Another mass of flowers, Morocco, 1980. This hat’s also been in a Kensington Palace exhibition so we get a lovely close up of it too.
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