Category Archives: Denmark

Danish Queen Concludes Sailing Season

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Queen Margrethe arrived back from Germany yesterday at Copenhagen’s waterfront ‘Nordre Toldbod’ aboard the royal yacht Dannebrog. Before disembarking, she thanked each person on the 57-member crew for this sailing season- the 90th year the 78-meter long ship has been in the water. For this year’s sailing farewell, Queen Margrethe repeated a brightly patterned red hat.

The design features a flat crown and generous brim with gentle curve that frames Margrethe’s face really well and gives a jauntily lighthearted feel to the design. Shape, however, is not what is immediately noticed about this hat- it’s all about the red and white print! We see so few printed royal hats I find myself embracing this one. Yes, its repeat on Margrethe’s high-necked blouse is a bit much but her navy suit firmly grounds the ensemble and makes it work. The minute she takes that jacket off, however, it will be print overkill.

Designer: unknown
Previously Worn: 1994

I adore that after 7 years of looking closely at royal hats here, there are still unexpected surprises, such as this design, that come our way! What do you think of Queen Margrethe’s new red and white hat?

Photos from Getty as indicated 

Danish Queen Concludes German Visit

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Queen Margrethe wrapped up her visit to the Schleswig-Holstein region in northern Germany yesterday, a visit that has been a prelude to next year’s 100 year anniversary of the 1920 plebescite that resulted in Northern Schleswig reunifying with Denmark and central Schleswig voting to remain with Germany. For this final day of engagements, she repeated her navy and cream hat with slightly flared brim and straight-sided, flat crown.

The proportions of this hat are excellent on Margrethe, as is the classic colour scheme. The use of the same fabric on the hat’s crown and the ensemble’s jacket isn’t my favourite touch (I would have preferred plain navy to make it wearable with other outfits) but it works, thanks to all of the neutralizing cream in the rest of the look. What sets the hat apart from others in Queen Margrethe’s wardrobe, however, is the jaunty angle it has been designed to be placed on the head. SO chic!

Designer: Mathilde Thoe Førster
Previously Worn: June 16, 2019

This year, Danish millinery Mathilde Thoe Førster has made a few hats for both Queen Margrethe and Princess Benedikte and it’s great to see them both embracing the work of a new milliner, particularly when it’s as good as this. ​I’d love to see a few other royals expand the milliners they regularly work with.

Photos from social media as indicated 

Queen Margrethe Visits Schleswig-Holstein

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Queen Margrethe has been in the Schleswig-Holstein region of Germany this week on a visit related to the upcoming 100th anniversary of the demarcation of the border which will be celebrated in 2020.

For the first day of this visit on Tuesday, she repeated her new-ish muted coral straw hat with navy hatband, tied in a side bow. The photos of this outing show the hat at best view we’ve seen so far. Most surprising is the colour, which is less of a terra-cotta shade as it first appeared and more of a muted coral with pink undertones. It’s a great colour to pair with navy and, I think, works better on Margrethe’s skin tone than some previous photos were it looked more orange.

Designer: Mathilde Thoe Førster
Previously Worn: Jul 26, 2019; Jun 27, 2019; Jun 25, 2019 

For the second day of her visit yesterday in Flensburg, Margrethe repeated her red bumper hat with side bow in the same navy and red painterly print as her dress. Fabric covered hats, such as this one (it looks to be a wool or silk crepe) sometimes look one note when paired with matching coats but the print on this ensemble lifts everything and makes it work.

Designer: likely Per Falk Hansen
Previously Worn: June 15, 2019; May 5, 2018; July 1, 2017; June 29, 2017; June 1, 2017; Oct 4, 2016; Sep 5, 2016; May 24, 2016

Today in Dannewerk, Haithabu and Friedrichstadt, Queen Margrethe repeated her mint green bumper hat covered in the same wool silk crepe as its matching coat and dress. Trimmed with cuffed brim that splits into side curls and pair of feathers, the hat is as good on this, its 9th outing as it was on its first. Whoever cares for Queen Margrethe’s hats certainly does a fine job.

Designer: likely Per Falk Hansen
Previously Worn: May 31, 2019;  June 13, 2017;  Mar 28, 2017;  Oct 3, 2016;  Apr 30, 2016; Sep 8, 2015; Jun 5, 2015; May 23, 2015; Apr 16, 2015

We’ve seen each of these hats before- do you notice anything new about them on these outings?

Photos from social media as indicated 

Greek Royal Wedding 20 Years On: Danish & Spanish Extended Families

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We don’t often see a  royal bride who counts four queens between her mother, grandmother, and aunts but such is the reality of Princess Alexia’s family tree. As such, her wedding was an extraveganza of royal hats on high profile royal heads.  Alexia’s grandmother, Queen Ingrid of Denmark, wore an ensemble in pale lilac with a cuffed ring brim hat. Made of the same fabric (silk crepe?) as her dress and coat, the hat’s centerpiece was its woven crown, a unique design touch that gave it wonderful texture.

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Queen Margrethe topped her vibrant floral dress with a picture hat in the same hues. The wide brimmed design, in grass green straw, was trimmed in whimsical twists of layered pink and white curling straw.

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Princess Benedikte was in sunny yellow from head to hem. Her straw hat featured a flat crown, silk hatband stitched in narrow rows and folded into a flat front bow, and a wide downturned brim overlaid in a swath of yellow net veil studded with silk rose petals. While the colour seems very much of the time, the classic shape translates better than her ruffle trimmed suit!

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Princess Benedikte’s elder daughter, Princess Alexandra of Sayn-Wittgenstein Berleburg, wore an ivory straw hat with flared and domed crown and wide brim that sloped downward in back and upwards in front. An overlay of informally ruched sinamay paced over the brim gave movement and a touch of modernity to the design.

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Princess Benedikte’s younger daughter, Princess Nathalie of Sayn-Wittgenstein Berleburg, seen behind Prince Charles in the photo below, wore a sky blue sinmay hat with squared crown and sideswept brim trimmed with a multi-looped bow on the side.

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While Queen Sofia did not wear a hat, Infanta Elena’s statement piece was impossible to miss. While structure here is difficult to pinpoint (Is it a pyramid? Do I see a small, rounded straw crown on th very top?), the hat’s focus was its wide cartwheel brim entirely covered in cream ostrich feathers. The phrase “lot of look” comes to mind to describe Elena’s couture suit and hat on steroids and I admire how much milliny confidence it must have taken to carry off such an over-the-top hat. It’s such a memorable royal hat moment.

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Infanta Cristina topped a blue dress and grey silk organza coat with a neutral almond straw hat with curved brim. The hat’s classic shape and streamlined trim (just a slim hatband) made a chic maternity look for Cristina.

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Infanta Margarita, who we seldom see, wore a very simple veiled headpiece. This is one of those times when function seems to have trumped fashion as the choice seems to satisfy the need for a headcovering, but that’s all. Do any of you recall seeing this headpiece from other angles?

There are some colourful and memorable hats among this group of royal relatives- I’m looking forward to hearing your thoughts!

Photos from Getty as indicated; ORBAN THIERRY/CORBIS SYGMA

Greek Royal Wedding 20 Years On

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Last month marked the 20th anniversary of a major royal wedding in London attended by three Kings and eight Queens. On July 9,1999 Princess Alexia of Greece and Denmark married Carlos Javier Morales Quintana, a Spanish architect and a champion yachtsman, at St. Sophia Cathedral. Over the next few days, we’re going to take a look back at this event.

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The bride went to one of her mother’s favourite designers, Austrian Inge Sprawson, for her sleek gown in ivory satin. With long, fitted sleeves and a wide v-neck, the focal point of the dress was a pair of diagonal crossed seams at the waist that created a fitted bodice silhouette and attached the gown’s skirt.

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The straight skirt flowed into a modest sweep train with a longer, detachable train fixed at the waist. The back of the dress was decorated in a row of beaded buttons which were repeated on the underside of each sleeve.

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Following the tradition set by her grandmother and followed by her mother, aunts and cousins, Alexia wore her great-grandmother Crown Princess Margaret’s Irish lace veil anchored with the Danish royal family’s Khedive of Egypt Tiara.

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A simple gown is usually the best way to show off such an amazing vintage lace veil but I’m just not sure that the cut and fabric of this dress entirely flattered it’s wearer. For me, it always paled in comparison to the amazing gold beaded Armani dress with portrait neckline she wore two days earlier to a pre-wedding party- a look I’ve long thought was her very best. It was breathtakingly stunning

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Princess Alexia was attended by her sister Princess Theodora, who wore a long sleeved gown in floral embroidered lilac silk organza with sheer sleeves and a draped neckline.

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Bridesmaides included Princess Alexia’s 3-year old niece, Princess Olympia, and Princess Mafalda, daughter of Prince Kyril and Princess Rosario of Bulgaria (the Prince and Princess of Preslav). Their dotted white silk organza full-skirted frocks with lilac silk sashes were topped with delicate white floral hair wreaths. Pageboys wore high waisted lilac silk trousers with white silk Peter Pan collared shirts.

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Fascinators were very popular in 1999 (Queen Elizabeth famously wore one two weeks earlier for the wedding of the Earl and Countess of Wessex) making Queen Anne-Marie’s headpiece of lilac feathers a fashionable choice at the time. From today’s viewpoint, it seems a fussy choice for her lace trimmed coat and dress.

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Crown Princess Marie-Chantal topped a textured suit with a wide brimmed hat in light ecru straw. The design featured a raised brim around the front behind which was a large grin unstructured bow.

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I’m curious, dearest readers- what do you think of this bridal look and hats, 20 years on?

Jump over to the following posts to review hats worn by the many royal guests:

Danish and Spanish Extended Royal Families
British Royal Guests
Norwegian and Swedish Royal Guests
Luxembourg, Jordanian, and Eastern European Royal Guests