It’s the smiling face we’ve been waiting to attend Royal Ascot all week!
The queen attended the final day of racing today, repeating her aqua fabric covered straw hat with split crown and bound brim with sidesweeping brim pinched in a peak on the raised side. The hat is trimmed with a wide ruched hatband and, on the side opposite the raised brim pinch, pale grey arrow cut feathers and hand rolled pink straw flowers and curling green leaves.
Embed from Getty Images Embed from Getty Images
This ensemble is such a lovely colour on Her Majesty, punctuated with the pink flowers on the hat and the peek of floral print from the dress. It’s also a piece we associate with happy events in the past (the knighting of the late Captain Tom Moore and Princess Beatrice’s wedding) which makes it feel like an especially joyful choice today.
Designer: Angela Kelly, made by Stella McLaren
Previously Worn: June 17, 2020 (and June 17, 2020)
What do you think of Queen Elizabeth’s hat today at Royal Ascot?
Images from Getty as indicated
Royal Hats 
So lovely to see HM who clearly enjoyed the day. A beautiful smile! The colours and trim of the hat are delightful…..the shape…well, that’s perhaps best left unsaid.
I really enjoy everything about this hat except for the brim. The peak/pinch in the brim is more pronounced than last summer’s premiere, but it just doesn’t seem to work in the same way the powder blue Ascot hat did a couple years ago. Despite the brim problems, it was wonderful to hear great cheers for HM and to see her smiling so much being back at the races, doing what she truly loves.
While I certainly agree that the hat does look as though it’s been sat upon or has been mangled showhow, from certain angles, this hat is spectacular and does show the Queen’s face beautifully. When viewed more from the Queen’s right side, with the flowers clearly visible, I really like the hat. I liked the other pinched brim (Ascot 2019) blue better, though, because the rest of that hat was a simpler shape.
It would be interesting to see today’s hat with all the same trim but with a normal brim. Today’s coat is a winner.
It’s such an excellent color and coat for HM, but the hat lets it down. Still, how great to see her out at one of her favorite events, clearly so happy to be in her element!
Good heavens, it’s the ‘Conquistador’ hat shape. MrFitzroy didn’t realize the hat worn to Princess Beatrice’s wedding had that same pinched brim, likely because the photos were at a distance and there were so few images released. It’s a hat that clearly has happy connotations for HM.
The crown appears to be a variation from the original (worn at Ascot 2019), and while the coat design looks identical around the lapels, below the bust is different. Definitely assorted components from previous outfits, recombined à la Kelly.
The fact that HM is out and about, smiling and enjoying herself is SO wonderful…it was worth waiting all week for!
Embed from Getty Images
Having looked at photos of the two hats side by side with the head position at approximately the same angle, I think the reason the newer hat is less successful is that point on the crown directly above the kink — it makes the entire hat look squashed. Whereas while the older Ascot hat does indeed have a Conquistador shape, the uniformly shaped crown is almost hidden behind all those flowers. In this hat, the point on the brim seems more like a deliberate feature than like a mistake. I’m sure I have not used correct terminology, so I hope anyone can figure out what I mean!
This is one of the very few hats I truly hate. That brim!
I’m in agreement with just about everyone here today; primarily HM’s attendance, followed by her ensemble. Delightful colors and the hat design with the coat are very nice, except for the elephant in the room.
“Elephant in the room,” indeed!
Is it my imagination, or is the brim kink even more pronounced than it was when the hat was worn last year?
I think you are right about the kink in the brim. This would be a lovely hat if it wasn’t for the kink. However, the Queen is back at Ascot so maybe, just maybe things are getting slightly more normal. Or is this wishful thinking on my part?
Sue, you have led in perfectly to something non-hat-related that has been on my mind while viewing the Ascot photos over the past few days. It’s hard to tell the exact chronological order that photos were taken on any particular day, but I feel like for many of the royals in attendance, it was mask on, mask off, mask on again. I also noticed that when the Duchess of Cambridge and Dr. Biden visited the classroom, they both wore masks while the teacher did not. I’m curious, and perhaps any of the U.K. participants might comment, what is the mask-wearing rule in Great Britain at the moment?
The mask rule is off for outdoors, but on for indoors in a public place. So Charles etc would wear the mask whilst passing through the entrance building at Ascot, but take it off once outside or out on a balcony.
Schools are slightly different, as the primary classes are “bubbled” and I think masks are not required for children or their teacher now; but strangers have to wear them.
Thanks for the explanation, TrickyMum!
Matthew, I think you are on to something. I barely noticed the kink last year. It’s as thought someone thought it needed to look more pronounced — bad move!
Color and trim are lovely. But that front brim looks like a dog slept on it and the shape was unable to be reclaimed.
I don’t love the brim, but the color is lovely on her and the pink a good complement to it! Overall though I’m just glad she made it to Ascot! She looks so happy, which in turn makes me happy!
The colors are lovely, as is the beaming smile on her face. I’ve missed seeing The Queen all week at Royal Ascot, so this certainly was a wonderful surprise!
Agree w/JamesB-looks like the hat was in an accident 😦
The colour is gorgeous, and those roses on the hat are lovely and tie so well with the dress and colour scheme. But that hat shape! The split crown with the ruched crown compete for attention and the wonky brim gives an unfortunate impression it’s been sat on.
Still, she’s in her element and looks lovely! So all is good.
I’m not fond of the kink in the brim either, but I do appreciate that we get a better view of her face because of it.
I loved this ensemble when we saw it last year, and I like it even more now we get a closer up view of it. The hat shape is not my favourite, but I love the colour combo. She wore a similar shaped hat in pale blue, with deeper blue roses on the trim, which I also loved, with the same caveat about the brim.