We have four garden parties, three in London and one in Ireland, to review!
The first one on May 9, 2023 at Buckingham Palace was attended by the Prince and Princess of Wales, Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, the Princess Royal, and the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester. The Prince of Wales wore his black antique silk top hat.
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The Princess of Wales repeated her pale blue sinamay saucer sidesweeping oval saucer hat trimmed with silk flowers beneath the raised side of the brim.
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Designer: Philip Treacy. Blouse and skirt by Elie Saab
Previously Worn: June 18, 2019
The Duke of Edinburgh wore his gleaming black antique silk top hat.
The Duchess of Edinburgh repeated her denim blue sinamay saucer hat with matching inverted crin binding, crin ruffle and silk flowers.
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Designer: bespoke version of “Karya” design by Jane Taylor. Dress by Suzannah London.
Previously Worn: June 15, 2022
Princess Anne repeated an almond sinamay cloche hat with diagonal crown. The brim features a contrasting chocolate straw underbrim and and tall wrap around the crown over which sits a ruched chocolate raw silk hatband. A mass of cream and dotted pheasant feathers on the side complete the design.
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Designer: unknown
Previously Worn: June 18, 2019; Jul 10, 2018; Jun 10, 2016; May 20, 2016; Jun 19, 2015; Nov 19, 2007; Jun 2006
The Duke of Gloucester also wore a black top hat while the Duchess wore a warm brown sinamay hat with raised brim on one side. Based on the hat’s binding, it looks like an off-the-peg design.
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Designer: unknown. Dress by Max Mara.
Previously Worn: I believe this hat is new
On May 16, the Duchess of Edinburgh attended the the Not Forgotten Association Annual Garden Party at Buckingham Palace.
For this event, she repeated a swirled saucer percher hat in pale blue-grey straw trimmed with crin flowers in the same colour.
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Designer: “Heliconia” by Jane Taylor. Coat dress by Suzanna London.
Previously Worn: Sep 29, 2017
On Wednesday, May 24, The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester and Prince Michael of Kent attended the Royal Kennel Club Garden Party at Buckingham Palace.
The Duke of Gloucester wore a Panama hat while the Duchess topped her navy Max Mara dress with a new brimmed hat in navy sinamay with large fabric leaves.
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Also on May 24, King Charles and Queen Camilla attended a garden party at Hillsborough Castle while on their visit to Northern Ireland. Queen Camilla repeated a cream straw with hat angular crown and gently sidesweeping brim. This design is simply trimmed with a monochrome cream silk padded hatband.
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Designer: Philip Treacy. Dress and coat by Bruce Oldfield.
Previously Worn: Jun 15, 2022; May 11, 2021
Images from Getty as indicated
Royal Hats 
I know I’m super late in commenting (I’ve been having a lot of computer issues with RH since the coronation not showing me the latest posts on multiple computers and browsers)!
When Sophie wore this cornflower blue ensemble last year at Ascot, I immediately said it reminded me of Kate’s ensemble from 2019. Who knew less than a year later they would both wear the same ensembles on the same day at the same event! It’s not the same, but they’re far too similar for me to feel comfortable; I would’ve been rushing to put something else on if I was one of them!
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While this brown hat looks RTW and isn’t terribly exciting, Birgitte wears it well and overall her ensemble is fresh and modern, despite my not being a huge fan of wearing a lot of brown. The same cannot be said for her navy ensemble, which features a repeated hat actually that has not held up so well over the years: https://royalhats.net/2022/06/15/ascot-2021-day-2-lady-sarah-chatto/
Some fab repeats here. Nice to see Kate repeat this Ascot look, I don’t think I loved it so much at the time, but it’s a fabulous hat. Same for Sophie’s denim blue outfit.
I think I mostly love Birgitte’s low key looks though, she looks very elegant.
The Duchess of Gloucester looked as elegant as usual – such a shame she doesn’t get more press coverage.
Everyone else wore repeats, but they were all hats well worth another viewing. I must say I prefer the Queen in a brimmed hat to the percher styles she has worn recently and this pearly coloured one is very nice.
My winner of this selection was the lovely swirled saucer worn by the Duchess of Edinburgh with her beautiful silvery blue/grey outfit – such an improvement on the blue prairie disaster at the previous event – although her hat there was also pretty.
Catherines hat, looked fabulous.