to this day in 1969, 51 years ago, and a return to London from Christmas break at Sandringham. Princess Margaret’s fur pillbox is a familiar winter hat but it’s the unusual shape of Lady Sarah’s velvet covered design that stands out as particularly interesting.
Photo from Getty as indicated
For a moment my eyes misinterpreted the sky in the background as the brim of an enormous hat. Possibly I should sit down with a cup of tea until I recover.
How I wish it were true! Thanks for the giggle.
I can’t tell you how many times I have looked at a picture with a “what the heck is that on her hat” thought only to figure out that it is the top op someone’ head or another hat on someone standing behind the person. In some cases, it would have been a more interesting hat it whatever was actually part of the hat. Thanks for making my morning!
Both hats shown below are beautiful shades of blue. If time permits today, I’ll look for a photo without the fur coat.
Embed from Getty Images
Lady Sarah’s hat is fantastic! I think it’s so funky. I would love to the see the hat on Princess Margaret, but from the looks of it right now, it’s pretty amazing. The color and cutouts are wonderful.
Thanks for providing color pictures Jimbo!
BRILLIANT!
Excellent Jimbo. There’s lots to enjoy in this scene. Lady Sarah would have been the trendiest little girl in town with that super high-fashion hat – I love how she’s reaching out to shake hands. And in the first pic we can see Margaret is wearing the Donald aquamarine brooch (with matching earrings) which looks stunning with her dress.
It’s interesting that Margaret paired a patterned dress with a differently-patterned hat — a combination that looks modern to our eyes, but which would have been unusual in those days, I imagine. Below is a black-and-white pic showing how Margaret’s hat looked when worn over her extravagantly bouffant hairstyle. Those hairstyles must have posed some challenges for milliners, and this example not a successful look in my view — but then, Crown Princess Michiko and Princess Paola are two whom I recall wearing hats which looked fabulous with their high hairstyles.
BTW, it’s pretty rare to see pics of a formally dressed royal lady carrying her hat in front of the crowds, as Margaret is doing here (unless maybe the hat wasn’t staying on properly?). Has anyone ever seen pics of HM doing this?
PS. the 2nd (colour) pic is simply to show young Prince Edward in a gorgeous red coat. Two decades later, at a similar age, Princes William and Harry were also seen in red coats. Fabulous. Embed from Getty Images
Mcncln, I know of a rare occasion where HM (while down under by you!) carried her hat on/off a plane.
October 24, 2011; Canberra
Embed from Getty Images
Princess Diana: October 23, 1991 in Canada (there’s a much better photo, somewhere but Getty doesn’t have it)
Embed from Getty Images
Good research as always Jimbo! Diana has the perfect reason for taking off her wide-brimmed boater — it would have just been in the way when giving her children hugs of greeting.
And HM? perhaps the hat protocols got relaxed for these senior royals, who were possibly taking a nap on the plane – something one can’t do with a hat on :)! And then, Australia’s major airports are often windy, making the descent to the tarmac a hatwearing challenge.
I can’t help admiring how HM and the Duke are such troopers –there they are, still negotiating a mobile stair to the tarmac in their ‘eighties, because security required their plane to land at a defence-based aerodrome.