to this day in 1981 when Zara Tindall was christened at Buckingham Palace.
Queen Elizabeth matched her purple and blue printed silk dress with wore an oversize rounded pillbox hat. Pleated fabric covered the hat and it was trimmed on top with similar ruffles to those on the neckline of her dress. Zara’s pateral grandmother, Anne Phillips, wore a pale green dupioni silk turban trimmed with bias stripes of the grey floral on her dress. The Queen Mother wore one of her signature veiled capulet hats covered in the same spring green floral as her caped frock and trimmed with a matching ostrich plume around the back.
True to form, Princess Anne’s finely woven yellow straw hat with curved brim, simply trimmed with a rolled silk hatband tied in a side bow (likely made by John Boyd), is still worn from time to time.
Princess Anne on July 27, 1981 and on a visit to Cumbria on July 17, 2013
Images from social media as indicated; Lord Litchfield; REX/Shutterstock
Royal Hats 
I absolutely adore this blog post, Hat Queen. The top photo of Princess Anne and Zara is fabulous. This yellow hat and dress make Princess Anne a beautiful, sunshine-flower.
And that you found and shared her wearing the hat again, 32 years later… priceless.
Anne’s hat was a simple thing and lovely. The Queen Mother was, as always, a picture of her own style that no one could ever replicate. I didn’t care for the hat worn by the Queen.
Did anyone catch what the “historical note” was? I couldn’t quite understand the words. I was struck, not by the hats, but a couple other things. HM already with a black purse in the summertime and the Queen Mother with a white purse. Also, the fact that there was no “1,2,3, cheese” for the picture taking. Just surprised me. I guess everyone knew what they were there for and were expected to look and smile continuously. Who was taking the pictures?
Anne’s hat is quite timeless and I think Lady Stewart’s and the Countess of Lichfield’s hats could be worn again, today. I thought Anne, was quite sweet with Peter, too!
The photos were taken by Patrick Anson, 5th Earl of Lichfield, great nephew of the Queen Mother. After leaving the Army in 1962, be became a professional photographer and took many of the royal family’s portraits at events like these. His wife at the time, Countess of Lichfield, was chosen as one of Zara’s godparents, an indication of how close they were to the royal family. Patrick and Leonora also had a daughter, Eloise, in 1981 and Princess Anne was one of her godparents.
Lord Lichfield’s sister, Lady Elizabeth Shakerly, was very close to QEII and arranged many of the parties for the royal family, including the pre-wedding dinner before Prince William’s wedding. The wedding reception for Prince Pavlos and Marie-Chantal.
Not forgetting that they often attended other royal events as their mother became Princess Anne of Denmark. I saw a rather lovely picture earlier this week where Marie-Chantal can be seen wrapping up Lady Elizabeth in her shawl on a balcony at an event in Denmark.
Sadly she died just last year.
I believe she was referring to the historical significance of Zara’s christening gown, which had also been worn by many royals past. More information aboit the christening gown can be found at the link below:
https://www.theduchessdiary.com/the-queen-acts-like-any-other-granny-at-zara-tindalls-christening/
Thank you all for helping me to understand the relationships of everyone at the Christening. You are all very knowledgeable and kind to share your knowledge with me!
Anne looks great, I like this hat and it still looks pretty good today. She takes good care of them, any that my Mother owned were covered in dents after a couple of wears!
HM, Mrs Phillips and the Queen Mum all in fussy floral prints that read as a bit sludgy in pics alas.
The other standout is the The Countess of Lichfield, looking very chic in monochrome.
Love that video, quite sweet how the Queen doesn’t want to let go of the baby!
JamesB, I love the term “sludgy’ to describe those frothy 1980s dresses. While certainly outdated today, I’m sure in person they were like haggis: better than it tastes. I could have sworn I had seen HM’s getup at some other do, but couldn’t find it. I did, however, discover QEQM in her typical green/white ensemble almost exactly a year later! Enjoy the close-up shots. Sludgy, indeed!
July 27, 1982: Sandringham Flower Show
Embed from Getty Images
The expression on Zara’s face in the first photo is priceless!! While she has never shied away from dramatic clothing and hats, perhaps she thought the christening gown was a tad bit overwrought and fussy.
I think she was a bit fussy because she wanted her own hat.