to June 1960, 61 years ago, and a trio of Scandinavian princesses visiting the Magic Kingdom in California. I wonder if Princess Astrid of Norway, Princess Margaretha of Sweden and Crown Princess Magarethe of Denmark planned their crisp navy and white ensembles?!
Embed from Getty Images
Embed from Getty Images
Thanks to reader Jake for suggesting these hats from the past!
Images from Getty as indicated
Royal Hats 
On the subject of the attendees seeming to be dressed in an overly formal way for a visit to a theme park, I will mention that I attended the Chippenham Folk Festival in Wiltshire in 1976, where many attendees camped out overnight in a big field, and being more used to jeans & t-shirt American festivals, I was amazed to see people emerging from their tents in the morning with men in tweedy jackets and ties and women in skirts and stockings (tights).
This festival still exists, but judging by the recent photos on their website (https://www.chippfolk.co.uk/about/) the current style of dress is much more informal!
I could have sworn I remembered a photo of Princess Elizabeth (pre-1952) with someone else riding out of a Tunnel-of-Love sort of ride, but I can’t find it.
“Dapper Day” at Great Bookham Fete.
June, 1922:
Embed from Getty Images
Margrethe looks less than thrilled, particularly in the spinning teacup photo. Not sure if it was her outfit or the cheesy nature of the outing. Culturally, she’s a lot more sophisticated than Disney.
Indeed, especially if the trio of Princesses was tasked with wearing blue and white to match Scandinavian Airlines. That makes it a full-on promotional tour which, I imagine, has high potential to be uncomfortable.
They all wore blue (including Minne!) probably because of Scandinavian Airlines which blue is their theme colour. It’s a part of the tour to celebrate the airline’s first flight to US IIRC.
BTW it must be interesting to visit Disneyland with few strands of pearls lol!
Hat Queen, I’m puzzled as to what the style is of Princess Margaretha’s hat.. I can’t recall ever seeing another like it!
It’s an interesting one- almost a boater/cloche hybrid. The round, flat topped crown is classic boater but the brim extends downward from the crown like a cloche. There looks to be a seam just below the blue hatband so… boater with a variation brim?!
Sounds good to me! 🙂
Prince Margaretha’s hat reminds me of a mobcap – something that was worn by Victorian (and 20th Century) servants and nurses. A current version would be a shower cap https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobcap It’s quite a charming hat!
I love the man in the teacup smoking away. My, how times have changed! This was a wonderful “blast from the past!” It’s quite remarkable seeing 3 Scandinavian Princesses do a tour together. Princess Astrid’s polka dotted pillbox is my favorite. It is a timeless piece that can still be worn today.
These are charming! I wonder what the princesses, who were used to the genuine article, thought of the Disney castle?
Was it on the same visit that they met Elvis? Embed from Getty Images
I don’t believe it was the same day but yes, clearly during the same visit. This is brilliant!
I found an article that talks about how things have changed at amusement parks, and first up is the dress code: https://www.insider.com/vintage-amusement-park-photos-2018-7#back-in-the-day-going-to-an-amusement-park-was-like-going-out-on-the-town-and-people-dressed-the-part-1. The first image is from Disneyland in 1966, and going to an amusement park then was like flying: people dressed up for it! There’s also a few photos of royals if you scroll down in the article.
There’s also this slideshow focused on roller coasters that also includes a few photos of royals, and majority show more formal clothing than what we would expect to see today: https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/travel-dining/advice/g4025/roller-coasters/
I guess “Dapper Day” at Disney used to be every day!
Nifty links, Jake! There are some surprising royal appearances. Maybe we’ll get snaps of the younger generation on roller coasters once Covid is over.
Based on the over formal dress of those in the photograph, I agree that it’s possible that the sections of the park that the princesses were visiting were closed off to all but the royal party and select others. Based on many visits to Disney World in Florida, I can say that this would not be a difficult thing to do — whatever one thinks of Disney as entertainment, they are EXPERTS at logistics and crowd control.
Also interesting to see how formal the occasion was compared to this other royal visit to a theme park three decades later, where the royal party even waited their turn in line with the “ordinary” people, and many people said afterwards that they didn’t even realize that royals were there. (Hope this embeds okay!)
Seems unnatural..maybe it was a special occasion and guests were invited . Even Minnie is wearing blue.
The shoes they are wearing do not seem comfortable for the walking required. The hats are all different.
It isn’t every day that you see a middle aged man smoking a cigarette in a suit, riding a tea cup! Even the crowd is dressed up for the amusement park. No kids in sight either. Thanks Jake, for this fun idea today.
PS The Sleeping Beauty Castle is modelled after the famous Bavarian Neuschwanstein Castle.