Some of us will be lamenting not wearing our Easter hats on Sunday and to provide balm for this disappointment, our discussion question this week is, dearest readers, which royal hats have the widest brims?
For a look at Queen Elizabeth’s widest brims, jump over to this post.
Photo from Getty as indicated
Photos from social media as indicated
Photos from social media as indicated
It is lovely to welcome New Zealand reader Sandra to the blog today for an amusing guest post!
We expect the Royals to appear sartorially perfect and perfectly groomed on official business and they rarely disappoint. But occasionally nature throws a curve ball. Here is a light-hearted selection of a few of those moments when simply nothing can be done.
Miss Mary Donaldson, as she was then, watches as her hat is whisked away. She was visiting Danish Parliament in Copenhagen on May 13, 2004, the day before her marriage to Crown Prince Frederick. An alert official retrieved the hat for her, and all was well.
Queen Elizabeth’s hats are generally well secured by hat pins – after 66 years as a monarch she knows how to prepare for anything. But sometimes circumstances mean little can be done, except to hold on for dear life! Here she and and her neighbours catch the downdraft from a helicopter at Winnipeg, Canada in 1970.
During her official welcome to Oman in 1979, Queen Elizabeth was forced to grab at her hat and clasp it to her head as a strong wind played havoc. Sandhurst-educated Sultan Qaboos (ruler from 1970 to his death on January 10, 2020) remained firmly at attention.
She’s holding her hat in place with one hand and showing interest to her hosts with the other, but now her skirt is billowing wildly! What is one to do? Queen Elizabeth viewing the Atlantic Ocean from Signal Hill in St John’s, Newfoundland, Canada in 1997.
The caption says Queen Elizabeth, pictured in London in 1999, is “holding on to her hat” while waiting for a visiting Chinese delegation to arrive. Unfortunately, there are no more photos to indicate that wind was the culprit this time. For me, this simple hat is a unique addition to her millinery wardrobe.
Just last year at Buckingham Palace Queen Elizabeth showed her mastery of the elements (and her faith in hat pins) as she continues to chat while the Duchess of Cornwall and American First Lady Melania Trump hold on to their hats.
We’ve seen many photos of Queen Maxima’s weapons-grade hatpins but as The Netherlands is a flat country with a long coastline, it’s windy. Here she clutches her hat during last year’s King’s Day (April 27) in Amersfoort.
King’s Day must coincide with the strong winds of the spring equinox. This photo is from 2014 in Zwolle.
A windy departure from the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam in October, 2015.
An unscheduled ‘Marilyn moment’ for Queen Maxima in 2014 at the anniversary of the D-Day Landings in Normandy, France.
Crown Princess Mette Marit keeps smiling, despite being caught in a strong gust of wind at the Copenhagen christening of Prince Christian of Denmark in 2006. She continued inside and became one of the child’s godparents!
What is it about christenings? The Duchess of Cornwall cops a blast of wind at the Norfolk baptism of Princess Charlotte in 2015, in what looked like a calm-day wind-wise.
Princess Eugenie’s Windsor Castle wedding in October 2018 (another good month for equinox winds) saw many guests, royal and otherwise, clutching their chapeaux, including Zara Tindall and her sister-in-law Autumn Phillips. Lady Sarah Chatto had a firm grip of her hat and a ladylike hand holding her skirt down and while the Duchess of Cambridge held on to her cocktail hat.
Embed from Getty Images Embed from Getty Images
Embed from Getty Images
It’s raining, it’s pouring (and there’s a bit of wind too) – and our Royals pictured here, from left, Queen Sonja, Empress Michiko and Crown Princess Mette Marit can only laugh during the official welcome for the Japanese Emperor and Empress in Oslo in May, 2005.
I look forward to seeing other fun photos unearthed by the clever people who read Royal Hats!
I’m sure there are some more amusing wind-lifted royal hats to share! Thanks, Sandra!
Blue straw fedora with saucy brim with silver lace appliqué with hand embroidered sequins by Dutch milliner Wies Mauduit
Black beret percher rimmed in straw blooms and a straw bow by New York-based brand Suzanne Couture Millinery
Another bold and wonderfully vibrant sinamay headpiece by American milliner Amy Fowler
Lovely drape on this vibrant blue felt beret percher’s double bow by Australian milliner Neil Grigg
Exaggerated and striking white boater hat with tall crown and cutout brim by Korean milliner Q Park
Blue ombre bandeau headpiece of overlapping straw leaves by British milliner Bee Smith
Lovely mulberry felt fedora with extended brim and fantastic pheasant feathers by Kenya-based miliner Chloe Mitchell
Black and white straw saucer with flying rim trimmed with lace by American milliner Tiffany Arey
Mysteriously beautiful veiled black lace mask headpiece by British milliner Jane Taylor
Tan felt fedora with fascinating textured brim by Australian milliner Felicity Northeast
Two-toned blue sinamay percher with sweeping shape by New York-based milliner Sally Caswell
Futuristic black straw saucer brimmed design with orbiting planets by British brand Miss Ginny Millinery
Two blush leather halo bandeau headpieces with statement flowers here and here by Australian milliner Cessiah Alice
For our dear gents, this sleek black fedora with silk paisley hatband from Danish brand Hornskov København
What are you doing to spread support and encouragement these days?
Photos from social media as indicated
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