A large percentage of royal hats we see are trimmed in flowers of some type. For this week’s discussion question, dearest readers, I’m wondering: which royal hat hosts the most realistic looking flower(s)?
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Royal Hats
The Bold, Beautiful and Bizarre World of Royal Millinery
Royal Hats 
I love Princess Beatrice’s hat. I couldn’t find a better photo but the flowers are beautiful!
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I rather like this one from 1979
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Whoever made the flowers on the Queen Mum’s hats always did a beautiful job. Embed from Getty Images
This is gorgeous!
Always loved this hat on the grand duchess. the feather flowers are pretty realistic
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I could have sworn I remember a different royal wearing this hat. It’s fab.
Great recall! The Countess of Wessex wore this beautiful Jane Taylor hat to the Epsom races in 2011.
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We forgot about Sophie!
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One of my top 5 ever royal hats
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I found this hat. The flowers are very good. Embed from Getty Images
I’m surprised none of Queen Maxima’s hats are here.
Good point. Interestingly I’ve had a look and Máx doesn’t wear that many hats trimmed with blooms. Now I think of it her hats are more architectural, whether big or small, and felt more in shape than embellishment. I didn’t look that far back but this was the only one I could dig up, and the flowers aren’t that lifelike
At all….
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I think this velvet turban with flowers by Fabienne Delvigne is quite good. Photos by Patrick van Katwijk and Albert Nieboer/PPE
Did she not wear something really stupendous for Ascot in 2019? I remember it was a pale pinkish color, perched on the right side of her head? Fluttering leaves? All I can come up with
Stupendous, indeed! As far as feather flowers go, they were really good.
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A couple from Princess Alexandra:
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I think this Laura Cathcart design on the Countess of Snowdon at Ascot warrants inclusion here
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That coat is so amazing, I don’t think any hat could do it justice. On reflection I think a plain hat would have been better, the flowers on this one are slightly haphazard.
Going right back in time here – I’ve thought before that the flowers in this one are so realistic they could be real!
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Princess Caroline with some beautiful flowers and stems in her hat
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Princess Charlene with a red rose in her hat
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This is one of my top three favorites for Charlene
Queen Elizabeth had a hat in the 1960s covered in lily of the valley. I can’t find it but I found this one
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The chappie in the background . . .
The two hats that come to mind fitting your description are:
#1 Photo by PA/PA Archive/PA Images
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and #2
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There’s also this fantastic lily-of-the-valley hat worn by The Queen Mother!
https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/queen-elizabeth-the-queen-mother-during-a-visit-to-the-news-photo/613461150
I absolutely love Princess Mary’s pink hat with the ruffled flower
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It’s so beautiful, on whatever side of the hat it’s placed! She has also worn this hat with a silk rose that is lovely.
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The hat dress and scarf combo are bad but that rose is good
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I can’t find a pic in colour but Anne’s daisies look pretty lifelike. Even if they are prosecuted on a scale to almost be sunflowers… Embed from Getty Images
Obviously I meant produced! I don’t actually think this hat has committed a crime…
I think these are some of the best flowers on Queen Elizabeth’s hats.
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I don’t think I’ve ever seen this hat. Great find! It looks like she popped a real peony in her hat. Lovely!
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Remember this??!! I didn’t notice until now that the flowers on the hat are pretty good especially for something made for 1981!!
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LOVE IT!!
This classic on Fergie came up in the painted hat discussion. The flower isn’t so visible here but was very lifelike. A really flattering hat on her from that time. Embed from Getty Images
HM clearly has a plethora to choose from but this one from the archives came to mind… Embed from Getty Images
Good one, JamesB. These aren’t too perfect. The petals are a little sparse, they don’t all look the same, and there’s that edge of green around the centers. Not the most beautiful example, but certainly one of the most realistic.
Great points. I think it’s the imperfections and different shades of colour that make a flower look more real. So the perfection is in the imperfection!
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These roses are so beautiful!
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Almost the same. Again, the flowers are so beautiful!
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These hats on Kate and Madeleine are gorgeous. Adding Zara too
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This hat on Zara has always been one of my favorites. Quite gorgeous and great suggestion!
I always thought the rose on this headpiece looked very real
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Yes!
And this one!
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Must include Zara’s percher!
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We don’t see many ranunculus flowers on royal hats! The only other one I can think of is this Sylvia Martinez design on Princess Stephanie. Image from the Catholic Church of Luxembourg.
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Perhaps it’s the wonderful spring green background tone, but this hat has always felt like a freshly picked posy was just tucked into the brim. Notwithstanding, of course, the faceted glass ‘buds’!
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When I read this I immediately thought of this hat!
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If I could go back in time to select a hat to have this is it. It’s my ALL TIME favorite hat worn my Diana. I absolutely adore this hat.
MrFitzroy hasn’t had a chance to rummage through the hat archives yet…..but did happen to watch an interesting video a few weeks ago about the history and production of high end fabric flowers. If you are interested in a little background about how these fabulous flowers come into being, it is well worth a view! (Disclaimer: they are planning custom flowers for a garment rather than a hat….but the process is the same!)
The video was fascinating! Thank you so much for sharing it.
The Queen will win this one for sure!
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I agree! The peonies on the pale blue are extra-special.
They are works of art, aren’t they?!
I adore fritillary flowers, especially the snake head fritillary so imagine my delight to see them on the wonderful pink hat. I think they are perfect matched with the fabric of the hat. I remember reading Angela Kelly telling of finding those fritillary flowers tucked away in a store room and being delighted at using them to finish this hat.I agree that no one will be able to top the wonderful flowers of Queen Elizabeth.
At Princess Leonore’s christening, Princess Madeleine wore this lovely headpiece. I love the shading on the flowers which make them look so natural:
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I always thought this headband Princess Madeleine wore to Princess Adrienne’s christening looked like an actual floral wreath. It’s loely how it matches her dress so well:
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This is the first hat I thought of. I think it’s the best one Queen Margrethe has.
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Good one! I think there might be a few very good flowers on Danish royal hats. Like this one which has been on at least two of Princess Benedikte’s hats. Photos by Hennng Kaiser via Corbis and Ole Hartmann Schmidt via Konghuset
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