This year marks 100 years since the southern part of Denmark, Sønderjylland, which was a German territory from 1864 to 1920, returned to Denmark. While official reunification celebrations for this anniversary will occur in early July, a memorial service to mark this centennial year took place yesterday at at Copenhagen Cathedral. Queen Margrethe repeated her ivory felt domed percher hat with upturned cuff brim, trimmed with felt and fur looped bows.
We’ve not seen this hat in several years and it’s such a good one on the Danish queen. It’s ‘snow queen’ in the best possible way, the hat and matching coat pairing to create a quintessential Scandinavian winter royal look that’s wonderfully regal and luxe. The use of fur on hats is, admittedly, very controversial, and while I’m usually not a fan, I think this hat would suffer without it.
Crown Princess Mary was in Viborg yesterday to tour and officially open a new emergency centre at within the Regional Hospital there. For this event, she wore a deep plum textured bandeau headpiece.
The colour is beautiful on Princess Mary and the piece is elevated from being a basic headband thanks to its molded shape and textured fabric overlay. The Scandinavian princesses aren’t frequent hat wearers, generally, but the current popularity of bandeau headpieces have seen several, such as this, atop royal heads. And more millinery is always a good thing!
Tuesday’s enthronement ceremony was attended by a number of royal events adorned in either national costume or traditional century court dress, giving the wonderfully formal gown-and-hat combination we don’t often see.
Queen Máxima donned a familiar slate blue gown in transparent silk brocade printed with large roses but paired it with a different hat than we’ve seen with it before- her grey silk floral and dotted net tulle statement headpiece. The scale and bold design of the headpiece pairs wonderfully with the gown, elevating the sense of drama and gravitas of the overall ensemble.
Queen Mathilde was wonderfully elegant in a an exquisite gown, cape and pillbox trio in pale pink silk crepe. The clean, sleek lines of each piece make them balance perfectly together and create a serene and quietly regal look. It’s a fashion philosophy we often see used with the Imperial royal ladies- perhaps the inspiration or influence for this ensemble?
Designer: unknown. Gown by Armani Prive. Previously Worn: This hat is new. It is not the same as the felt calot worn February 6, 2014 as some blogs are reporting.
Queen Letizia paired her bright, floral gown with a divided bandeau headpiece in pale, dusky pink silk. The scale is great on her and the solid colour is a great choice against her patterned dress, although I thought the bandeau’s construction, with many visible stitches, wasn’t quite up to snuff.
Designer: Nana Golmar. It is a bespoke silk version of the velvet “Iria Headband“. Gown by Matilde Cano. Previously Worn: this headpiece is new
Crown Princess Mary’s muted lilac-grey caped dress was brightened with mulberry straw hat. The modified saucer is worn at a steep incline and trimmed with two huge silk flowers on the underside of the raised brim, the one at the front in mixed shades of purple. Supremely elegant on its own, I think this gown is again, elevated with the statement hat – not to mention those rubies!
Designer: Jane Taylor. Gown by Valentino Previously Worn: This hat is new
Crown Princess Victoria wore a straw saucer hat in the same saturated inky purple shade as her gown. The piece, also designed to sit at a sharply tilted angle on the head, is lavishly trimmed with silk roses and straw twists beneath the raised brim, a touch that gives such textural contrast to the opposite, very smooth upper side of the saucer.
Designer: Philip Treacy. Gown by Escada. Previously Worn: This hat is new
Seated next to Crown Princess Victoria was a face new to Royal Hats, Swazi King Mswati III’s newest wife, Inkhosikati LaMashwama. She topped her white suit with a vibrant blue straw hat with disc base trimmed with rolled straw rosettes and large bow loops, blue tulle, purple cut feathers and pearls, scattered over the base.
I know some readers have been waiting days to discuss the hats in this post (my apologies for the delay) so I turn it over to you- what millinery looks here were your favourites?
Members of the Danish royal family attended their country’s annual opening of Parliament yesterday in Copenhagen. Queen Margrethe wore an unexpectedly quick repeat of the purple felt hat we saw her wear over the weekend. There’s not much to add to my last comments- great colour, interesting brim shape and lovely proportions. The bow is not my favourite trim option for this hat but it works.
Photos from this outing show the hat is not a pillbox as it first appears (and continues to appear, from front and side views!) but follows a calot shape with indented center that forms a thick, raised cuff around the design. While I don’t adore the shape, it certainly gives the hat more presence and statement than a traditional pillbox shape would have, and for that reason, I like it more than I did on its first outing. Pink can be tricky in royal wardrobes (easily too bright or too twee) but this dusky hue works really well on Mary and the overall look is polished and sleek.
Designer: Susanne Yuul. Coat by Claes Iversen.
Previously Worn: Dec 6, 2018
Princess Benedikte topped her hunter green wool with coordinating felt hat with high bumper sides and domed crown trimmed with two navy straw leaves that artfully wave from one side across the back of the design.
I can’t remember seeing Benedikte in a hat this colour and the departure is a good one, particularly with the addition of her patterned silk dress to give the ensemble some lift.
Queen Margrethe took in the races on Saturday at Klampenborg Racecourse. For this outing, which saw her present The Queen’s Honorary Award, she repeated a hat we’ve not seen in several years. In royal purple felt, the design features a diagonally placed brim and bow trim on one side. A piece first worn for her Ruby Jubilee in 2012, it’s nice to see this vibrant hat trotted out again.
Also on Saturday, Crown Princess Mary officially opened a namesake bridge connecting West and North Zealand across Roskilde Fjord. For the event, she wore a new saucer hat in navy fur felt with sharply angled brim (upturned on one side, downturned on the other) trimmed with a felt bow and large silk flower.
The shape is a departure for Mary and while I don’t like the sharp angles of this design on her as much as some of her other, more classic, softer shapes, it’s great to see some variation in her millinery wardrobe. It also stood up admirably to some intense wind! As usual, the ensemble was beautifully styled, with a pop colour from her red dress.
Designer: Jane Taylor. It is the “Jujube” design from AW 2017 Previously Worn: This hat is new
On Sunday, the new M3 Cityringen metro line in Copenhagen was officially opened by its first, very royal passenger. For this inaugural ride, Queen Margrethe repeated her charcoal grey felt trilby with pompom flower trim. It’s a very chic hat (this is one of a very few royal pompoms that works!) that Margrethe wears very well.
Royal Hats 