41 years ago today when Princess Margaret took joined in independence festivities on the island of Tuvalu in the most marvelous headdress.
Photo from Getty as indicated
Royal Hats
The Bold, Beautiful and Bizarre World of Royal Millinery
41 years ago today when Princess Margaret took joined in independence festivities on the island of Tuvalu in the most marvelous headdress.
Photo from Getty as indicated
Royal Hats 
“OUR RAINBOW QUEEN” by Sali Hughes
7 1/4 inches by 5 1/4 inches, +/- 200 pages (it’s not numbered)
I paid $14 USD from Amazon, although the price on the book is $20 US/$27 Canada
1. 17 pages of text – general discussion of Queen Elizabeth’s almost 100 years of fashion, included are many already well known tricks of the trade, such as her shorter sleeves to keep out of the soup, weights in her dress hem, and someone else breaking in her new shoes. The number of Launer hand bags HM owns is staggering! All the information was very interesting trivia, however most of it was not any new insight.
2. 16 to 20 examples for each of the following “chapters”:
Red-orange-yellow-green-blue-purple-pink-neutral-patterns. Not one new surprise or photograph, most of the materials were taken from Getty or PA Images. It is current, however, as her infamous blue Brexit hat is included. Not exclusively millinery either, many of HM’s clothes are also addressed, which is totally fine.
All in all, this publication is very enjoyable, beautifully laid out, colorful, (obviously!) and entertaining, but for all of us serious Royal followers here at Royal Hats, it really didn’t open any new closet doors or provide any revelations or fashion surprises. This book would be perfect for the more casual follower, and due to its smaller size, it would be a great stocking stuffer (St. Nicholas Day is just over 2 months away!)
Thank you for your book review Jimbo, very interesting. I don’t think I will buy the book (sorry Penguin!), but I might just ask St. Nicolas to bring me the Angela Kelly/Stella Mc Laren book.
Talking of presents, may I draw your attention here at Royal Hats to a rather special millinery initiative? Awon Golding, a well known London based milliner, brought out a calendar last year the proceeds of which went to a shelter for abandoned dogs. Each month featured a (rescued) dog, wearing a bespoke hat!
Among the creators of these hats were royal milliners like Philip Treacy and Rachel Trevor Morgan.
I am not very fond of dressed up animals, but the hats were special and the cause worthy, so I decided to be a sport and back the initiative by pre-ordering the calendar, thus enabling it to be printed.
As the fund raising was a succes, another calendar saw the light this year. It is called Haute Dogs 2020 and raises money for Dogs on the street, a charity which provides vital support to dogs owned by homeless people in the U.K. Participating milliners include Stephen Jones, Philip Treacy, Millinery Jill and Edwina Ibbotson among others.
For those of you interested, have a look at Awon Goldings Instagram profile (@awongolding) or go directly to the crowdfunding campaign at http://bit.ly/hautedogs2020
I predict that in ten years time these calendars will be collectors items!
Thanks for sharing this, Wies!
Thanks for this. I suspect few of these glossy illustrated books have much to offer in the way of insightful information, to those of us who have followed royal fashion, hats and jewels for any length of time; but as you say, would be a pleasant gift!
Thanks for reviewing, Jimbo. Although the material isn’t new, I like the idea of organizing by color.
The Duchess of Cambridge also wore a floral crown when she visited Tuvalu in 2012. This was the sort of thing I wanted to wear for my wedding in 1979 (no veil) – I got a pale imitation, sigh!
Embed from Getty Images
Also in Tuvalu in 2012:
Embed from Getty Images
Dear HatQueen and fellow bloggers, I hope you won’t mind, but I have a totally unrelated question:
For a gentleman client of mine I’m trying to find the guest post which was written by, I think Chicago Chuck? about an establishment in London selling vintage top hats. If I remember correctly it was at the occasion of Royal Ascot, but I don’t recall which year.
Who can help me find this post?
https://royalhats.net/2018/07/17/guest-post-hat-exchange/ Wies, you can follow the link in the first paragraph for Chicago Chuck’s original post. Unfortunately, he doesn’t name his source beyond “Steve.” Is you client in the market?
Thank you Mittenmary. It was an interesting and amusing post and I liked reading it again. A guy named Steve somewhere in East London is indeed a bit vague, but fortunately HatQueen has helped me further.
My client is a gent who likes to dress smartly and is ready to save up until he can buy bespoke suits or headwear. I made him a handsome tweed cap and he brought me his bowler which he bought from Lock & Co some years ago. We came to talk of top hats and the difficulty of finding a vintage one.
I hope Chicago Chuck is all right and hasn’t deserted us all together.
I’ve sent you a private message, Wies.
I was more interested in Margaret’s hat that she was carrying in the 2nd photo, which I assumed she had been wearing before the native head-dress was placed on her, until I FINALLY found another photo of the event – – – she was actually carrying some sort of native drum and stick! (And we all know the expression on “assuming.”)
My copy of “Our Rainbow Queen” by Sali Hughes came today. If anyone is interested, before you decide to buy it, I’ll give a more detailed report on it.
https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/111/1116987/our-rainbow-queen/9781910931981.html
I would love your critique of the book, Jimbo.
Looked at the preview on Amazon— looks like lots of fun!
Same here, Jimbo. I’m not likely to buy this, but I am interested in your review. So that’s two new books about HM and her wardrobe!
I went to a talk by Sali Hughes at the Victoria & Albert Museum in June. I was in London for Trooping the Colour the following day.
It was interesting to hear how she became interested in royalty and also her take on some of the Queen’s fashion choices including the famous ‘Brexit’ hat worn for the ‘dressed down’ State Opening of Parliament in 2017 and a leopard print ‘Bet Lynch’ coat worn in 1958.
Jimbo, the object Princess Margaret is carrying rather looks like a fan to me.
And I would love to read your book review.
HQ, may I give a brief account of Sali Hughes’ book? If yes, should it be a continuation of this post, or elsewhere?
Here is just as good a place as any! Go for it.
This is certainly a novelty! Or maybe HatQueen is about to issue us a new challenge — hats trimmed with shells?
That is extraordinary! I would assume it would be heavy, but Princess Margaret makes it look light as a feather!
I’m assuming this was a gift from the hosts, rather than a designer hat; but beautiful, whichever!
I believe their national anthem goes “Tuvalu, we likum you!”