News of Princess Beatrice’s engagement yesterday brought me hopeful thoughts for a 2020 wedding (with HATS!) and nostalgic admiration for some of her great millinery looks this year. One of my favourites was the sky blue straw boater with tassel trim by Bundle MacLaren she wore to Ascot. This got me thinking, dearest readers… how many other royal hats have been trimmed with tassels? Or long fringe? What do you think of such trimmings?
Photos from Getty as indicated
Royal Hats 
Just thought of another one with a fringe, clearly designed to go with the coat:
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1979 Anne, Toronto, beret with tassel end.
https://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/detail.jsp?Entt=RDMDC-TSPA_0123707F&R=DC-TSPA_0123707F&searchPageType=vrl
1977 Anne, London, a “structured headscarf” style hat with fringing!
https://www.gettyimages.com.au/detail/news-photo/princess-anne-seen-watching-the-demonstration-at-st-news-photo/592341492?adppopup=true
https://www.gettyimages.com.au/detail/news-photo/princess-anne-seen-watching-the-demonstration-at-st-news-photo/592335952?adppopup=true
1979 Anne, another beret with tassel end. Sorry about the huge link, but I couldn’t leave this tassel out. Is this the heaviest and longest tassel worn outside a ceremonial occasion? It must have been a nuisance to wear. What’s more, the black and white photo makes it look as if the tassel consists of the princess’s hair, threaded through the hat 🙂 –rather unsettling…
https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-princess-anne-with-flowers-on-walkabout-c1979-82597456.html?pv=1&stamp=2&imageid=49B3BD93-C3EE-4E4F-9A24-D6A0B43DDC99&p=255700&n=0&orientation=0&pn=1&searchtype=0&IsFromSearch=1&srch=foo%3dbar%26st%3d0%26pn%3d1%26ps%3d100%26sortby%3d2%26resultview%3dsortbyPopular%26npgs%3d0%26qt%3dprincess%2520anne%25201979%26qt_raw%3dprincess%2520anne%25201979%26lic%3d3%26mr%3d0%26pr%3d0%26ot%3d0%26creative%3d%26ag%3d0%26hc%3d0%26pc%3d%26blackwhite%3d%26cutout%3d%26tbar%3d1%26et%3d0x000000000000000000000%26vp%3d0%26loc%3d0%26imgt%3d0%26dtfr%3d%26dtto%3d%26size%3d0xFF%26archive%3d1%26groupid%3d%26pseudoid%3d%26a%3d%26cdid%3d%26cdsrt%3d%26name%3d%26qn%3d%26apalib%3d%26apalic%3d%26lightbox%3d%26gname%3d%26gtype%3d%26xstx%3d0%26simid%3d%26saveQry%3d%26editorial%3d1%26nu%3d%26t%3d%26edoptin%3d%26customgeoip%3d%26cap%3d1%26cbstore%3d1%26vd%3d0%26lb%3d%26fi%3d2%26edrf%3d0%26ispremium%3d1%26flip%3d0%26pl%3d
1952 HM, Braemar- cute!
https://www.gofugyourself.com/photos/retro-royals-its-queen-elizabeth-and-prince-philips-70th-wedding-anniversary/queen-elizabeth-duke-of-edinburgh-september-1952-wearing-kilts-duke-wears-balmoral-tartan-the-queen-is-in-grey-and-her-hat-is-trimmed-with-yellow-tassels-the-duke-of-edinburgh-wears-th
1979, Princess Alexandra, 6th pic down, in a divinely elegant lilac beret – incidentally, wearing that coat from the previous post “Hat from the Past Sept 26, 2019” – now we know the colour 🙂
https://www.poppyfactory.org/royal-visits-since-the-second-world-war/
mcncln, you’ve outdone yourself! Is anyone else getting a Girl With a Pearl Earring vibe from the 1977 London? And are we sure that it isn’t her hair, not a tassel, in the 1979? (I see a lot of running caps with cut-outs for a ponytail.) This is really confirming my impression that Anne loves horses so much that she’s trying to grow a tail!
The 1952 Braemar is indeed cute. The yellow must have really popped against the grey.
HM and Anne seem to have been prolific tassel-wearers! while looking, I noticed that the later ‘seventies was also awash with hats wrapped in scarves – not just turbans, but different shapes of hat, with the ends of the “scarf” fabric hanging or tied off, scarf-fashion ) – a topic for another post, perhaps HQ?
1975 HM, Hong Kong. Do these count as tassels?
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1970 HM Sydney
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1974 HM New Hebrides
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1971HM Ascot
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1976 HM Maundy service
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Good hunting mcnlcn! I reckon the Hong Kong hat would also do well in the pom-pom section. And HM’s hat with little tassels all over it is, well, interesting. Even Philip looks doubtful! 🙂
Epic, mcncln! Yes, as Sandra says, the Hong Kong hat counts for pompoms, too — bonus points for you.
Seems like there were loads of tasselled hats after all, back in the 1970’s and ’80’s! I think we just tactfully put them out of our minds! My favourite is the Queen’s emerald green number.
Princess Anne on tour in Gambia for Save the Children Fund in 1984. This hat, when seen with all its adornments, is a bit of a mess really.
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Princess Anne at the Newbury races 1985 (a fundraiser for Save the Children for which she’s been a long-time patron) in another orange outfit. It almost looks as if there might be two tassels at the back …
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Princess Anne in Wellington, NZ in 1970. The caption describes the hat as ‘spectacular’ and it ain’t wrong. The whole hat is one big tassel!
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This is like the her pompom hat made of pompoms!
These ponytail style tassels seem very appropriate for a horse-loving Princess.
All of these old photos of Princess Anne make me realize how long it’s been since she has been wearing her hair up all the time. Has anyone ever seen a photo of her with her hair down (outside of possibly when riding a horse) beyond her early teen years?
Interesting question Matthew. Here’s an engagement announcement photo from 1973:
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An official portrait released the week before their November 1973 wedding:
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Heading off on honeymoon:
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On tour at the Sydney Opera House, 1974:
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Lovely family photo from 1980:
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Half-down, half-up for her second marriage in 1992 (which may be the last time her hair has been down in public):
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Princess Anne, about 1978
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Really interesting brooch too!
It reminds me the the Starfleet insignia.
mittenmary, that’s exactly what I was going to say before I saw your reply!
My other thought was a stunted Eiffel Tower, Matthew. It really is baffling, isn’t it — the chunky material as well as the shape.
Besides Princess Anne’s orange hat with fringe (scroll through the comments), the only other fringe on a royal hat I can think of is this one, with fringed hatband. Hat designed by Angela Kelly, made by Stella McLaren
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Would fringe-like edges on brims count? If so, Máxima, Mathilde, Victoria, and Maria Teresa all have worn hats with fringe edged brims (presumably all by Delvigne), although Máxima leads the way in that sense.
Cirencester, 1996:
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Queen Elizabeth in the Isle of Man, 1989. Hat by Philip Somerville.
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Here’s a lime green cap with long tassel (a sentence I never thought I’d write here) on Princess Anne in 1971
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There’s also this one worn when presenting new colours to the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders in 1973 Embed from Getty Images
Another one from a tiyr of Canada in 1976. Another one which we can safely say is of its time Embed from Getty Images
Despite the fact it hasn’t aged well, it appears to be exquisitely made.
Here’s one from the Silver Jubilee tour if Scotland in 1977:
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Great colour on Her Majesty here.
Although I’m not keen on the squashy shape, I love the movement the tassel brings to the hat in this photo, taken about 1980 at something horsey:
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My initial reaction was, “No, it was Eugenie who wore a big-brimmed hat with a tassel,” but looks like they both did. This is from Day 1 of 2018:
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Great challenge, HatQueen! And it’s fun to look forward to a royal wedding.
There is a 1938 Sir Cecil Beaton portrait of Princess Marina wearing the traditional Greek national costume which includes “a red felt cap (fez) with enormous golden tassels” described and shown in this article: https://blog.hrp.org.uk/princess-marina-fashion-icon/ (scroll down about halfway). From the photograph, it looks more like the tassels are attached to the dress rather than the hat, and it is unfortunately in black & white, but maybe someone can find some other photos of Marina in Greek dress (i.e. not formal sittings) in color and from different angles and we can decide!
Great feature, Matthew! She was such a fashion icon that it’s surprising to see her in national dress. Do you suppose the tassel actually is on the hat, but worn draped over the shoulder?
It’s possible, mittenmary. If you look at fez photos online, very few of them have tassels longer than the hat itself, but the description does refer to “enormous” tassels. This was obviously a private sitting, but I’m hoping that other photos might surface of Marina in Greek dress perhaps at a cultural event of some sort where we might see the hat at different angles, but so far no luck.
Fascinating find Matthew. Here’s Prince Phillip in Greek national dress, wearing a cap very similar to Marina’s, with a huge tassel clearly attached. https://www.gettyimages.com.au/detail/news-photo/prince-phillip-of-greece-later-the-duke-of-edinburgh-news-photo/613460076?adppopup=trueH
And here is “Miss Hellas 1931” in Amalia dress (the style of dress Marina is wearing, as described in the article you linked) and the tassel is evidently attached by a very long, elaborately twisted, gold cord — which explains how Marina got the tassel to lie across her opposite shoulder: https://oimaniateseinaipantou.blogspot.com/p/blog-page_503.html
Awesome seeing such a young Prince Phillip, I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a photo of him younger than his engagement to then Princess Elizabeth. The two photos you shared plus the one of Queen Anne-Marie shared by HatQueen convince me that Marina’s tassel is indeed connected to her hat and not her dress. And now that I’ve seen so many examples of the traditional Greek national costume (which I had never seen before), I do have to say that it is very attractive and interesting.
That reminds of this wonderful portrait of Queen Anne-Marie in Greek national costume (with impressive gold tassel on the hat) taken in 1966
What a marvellous photo.
I found this one of Princess Anne in 1979, I love the orange sherbert color of the outfit. What a lovely young lady.
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I also found a cool picture of Queen Anne-Marie in a really interesting tasseled hat as part of a Macedonian national costume, but it wasn’t embeddable. Another fun rabbit hole!
Gorgeous color on Princess Anne!
Would this amazing headdress Chief Red Crow of the Blackfeet Nation (Princes Charles) wore in Alberta in 1977 count as tassel in the front? It is a knotted material, which is the definition of a tassel. Regardless, this is spectacular.
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Princess Beatrice, Princess Eugenie and Peter Phillips graduations
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December 10, 1980: Chatham House (it’s yellow, and I’ll continue finding a color photo.)
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April, 1981: Badminton Hore Trials (not the most flattering of designs, to be sure.)
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Great finds Jimbo!
Jimbo, you never cease to astonish!