This Week’s Extras

Princess Beatrix in a black straw hat with embellished bumper brim last Wednesday at the funeral of Infanta Pillar
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On January 31st, Princess Nobuko and Princess Hisako visited the 69th Kanto Tokai Flower Exhibition at Sunshine City Bunka Kaikan in Tokyo. Princess Nobuko wore a black brimmed hat while Princess Hisako donned a gey felt Pork pie-crowned design with rolled brim and burgundy hatband
Chic grey felt boater hat on Princess Hisako today to open the 2020 Tokyo Tableware Festival
Queen Elizabeth in a familiar blue felt hat with feather flowers by Angela Kelly, made by Stella McLaren, to attend St. Peter and St. Paul church this morning in West Newton near Sandringham
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The following new millinery designs caught my eye this week:
Lilac lace covered button percher with silk flowers by Irish milliner Teresa Nugent
Black straw saucer with lovely swirling blush floral trim from British milliner Justine Bradley-Hill
Burgundy felt folded design with button trim by German millinery Angelika Löbering
Pink straw wide-brimmed hat with statement polka dot bow by Florida-based AmyJo Original Hats
Black featherpercher with quill twist and red feather hearts by Australian milliner Jill Humphries
Beret percher wrapped in ombre orange organdie ribbon with bows by British milliner Dillon Wallwork
And this wonderfully elegant grey straw design with rolling wave cuffed brim, veil, feather quill twist and diamante bumble bees from Australian milliner Rachel Henry

Lovely new portrait released by the Dutch court to celebrate Princess Beatrix’s 82nd birthday
Sweet snap from the Monaco Royal Palace balcony during the Sainte Devote Ceremony last Monday
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Photos from social media as indicated

This Week’s Extras

On Tuesday, January 14, Princess Margriet arrived at the Royal Palace in Amsterdam for the annual New Year’s reception in a casual, navy hat (she and other members of the Dutch royal family changed into formal attire inside the Palace!)
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Burgundy felt brimmed hat on Empress Masako for the the 40th anniversary ceremony of the National Rehabilitation Center for Disabled People & the National Occupational Rehabilitation Center on January 22. The windowpane pleated silk on her lapel is repeated on the hatband for an interesting touch.
Fun connection made for Princess Tsuguko’s burgundy hat- it seems to date back as far as 1993
Zara Tindall in a heathered grey felt fedora with darker grey hatband today at the Festival Trials Day at Cheltenham Racecourse
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British milliner Jane Corbett shared this photo of a bespoke hat she created and was shipping off to a lucky client. Many of you will recognize it…
The following new millinery designs caught my eye over the past two weeks:
Layered black and red sinamay straw hat by Zambian Dutch milliner Alice Ng’andwe Vermeulen
Stunning headpiece in purple and pink hand rolled organdie by British milliner Bee Smith
Beautiful bugle bead embroidery on this cherry red felt calot by Tasmania-based milliner Meghan Briton
For our dear gents, this handsome chocolate fedora with silk hatband by Danish brand Hornskov København
Deep claret felt beret percher with very fun feather pompoms by British milliner Awon Golding
Pink and purple felt fedoras with lovely pleated hatbands by German brand Bedacht Millinery
Love the sparkle on this sequin covered beret percher by Texas-based brand The Mad Duchess
Australian milliner Jill Humphries’ feather covered percher with flame twist in midnight blue
Beautiful colour and shape on this claret red felt fedora from British brand Christys Hats
From Dutch milliner Eugenie van Oirschot, this showstopping hat in navy and royal blue silk that leaves me at a loss of words to describe.

 

I suspect I’ve missed a number of noteable royal events and hat outings over the past week but trust you’ll share them here to catch me up!

Photos from social media as indicated

2019 Royal Hat Stats: Most New Hats

Without further ado, here are stats for the most new hats/headpieces worn by royals last year:This is the last statistic I prepared for 2019 and found results here the most surprising. Last week, the question of royal stylists and borrowed hats came up in discussion at this post. I bring it up here because a number of royals at the top of this list – Princess Beatrice, Zara Tindall, Princess Eugenie, Autumn Phillips- routinely wear hats a single time, strongly suggesting to me they are borrowed, at the hands of a stylist, for a particular event. Because we don’t know how many hats are purchased (although we do know that Queen Maxima, Queen Mathilde, the Duchesses of Cornwall and Cambridge all purchase their hats), these numbers aren’t completely accurate, nor can be. Until we see a hat/headpiece worn a second time, we simply don’t know if it’s a purchased piece or a loaner.

I’m curious, dear readers, for your response to these numbers. I hope you’ve all enjoyed this statistical look back at the royal hats we saw last year!

 

2019 Royal Hat Stats: Most Frequent Wearers

This is the one some of you have been waiting for- an answer to the question, “Who wore the most hats in 2019?” Again, the measurement is the number of times that each royal wore a hat/headpiece (not the number of different hats each person wore). Included on the graph below are all of the royals who wore a hat five or more times last year; click on the graph to open it in a larger size:

These numbers include the same grey areas I described in the first statistics post but still give a very interesting picture of the frequency that various royal women wear hats. There are a few surprises here – Princess Hisako at #2, the high number of Imperial royals at the top of the chart, the number of European queens below mid-range. What do you notice about these numbers?

Stay tuned tomorrow- we’re going to see who added the most new designs to their millinery closet in 2019. Any guesses as to who tops the chart?!

2019 Royal Hat Stats: Monarchs

Yesterday, we looked at the combined number of times royal houses saw one of their member wears a hat or headpiece last year. Today, we’re looking which queens/consorts donned a hat most often. Again, the measurement is number of  times a hat was publicly worn on each of these very regal heads (click on the graph below to open a larger version):

Somehow, these numbers are far less surprising to me… except for the Grand Duchess. She usually participates in a state visit or two but was sidelined with knee surgery this year, so her single hat outing is lower for her than a typical year.

What do these numbers indicate to you?

Stay tuned next week- we’ll look at the number of hats individually worn by other royals and see who added the most new millinery designs to their wardrobe in 2019.