Category Archives: Jordan

Ascot Day 4: Dubai Royals

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Members of Dubai’s ruling family attended the fourth day of racing at Royal Ascot again today.

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Princess Haya topped her black floral dress with an edgy black silk headpiece. Built on a flat base, the design features curling black silk outer petals that layer toward the silk bloom’s center of rolled silk flowers studded with black beads. It’s an interesting design for Haya that reminds me of this similar headpiece she wore, also to Ascot, back in 2016.  Sheikh Mohammad, as usual, repeated his black silk top hat.

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Designer: unknown
Previously Worn: This hat is new
The family celebrated another victory with Sheikha Al Jalila’s horse, Old Persion, winning the King Edward VII Stakes. Jalila collected her winning cup in a bandeau headpiece of layered red straw bow loops in the same vibrant red as her dress. While the young royal shows great maturity and poise, we need to remember she is not yet eleven years old- I thought this headpiece was wonderful on her (she wears the colour red incredibly well, just like her mother!) and hit just the right note between her youth and the formality of this event.
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Designer: Alexandra Harper Millinery
Previously Worn: This hat is new
 What do you think of this trio of hats?
Photos from Getty as indicated

Ascot Day 1: Dubai Royals

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With several horses racing at Royal Ascot this week from their Godolphin stables, it was no surprise to see members of Dubai’s ruling family at the races today. Princess Haya wore a large, invisible cream straw disc hat- invisible, thanks to an oversize silk flower trimming the top and back of the hat. The design is completed with a cream crin brim that falls into a gentle mushroom shape, and cream straw and crin twists at the back.


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Designer: Philip Treacy- bespoke version of OC 294 from SS 2017. Roland Mouret ‘Etty’ dress.
Previously Worn: This hat is new 
In the charming photo above, Princess Haya’s youngest child, Sheikh Zayed Bin Mohammed Al Maktoum, is seen at his Ascot debut. Zayed looked adorably handsome in a black silk top hat. In the lower photo below, he is led by Crown Prince of Dubai, Sheikh Hamdan.
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Zayed’s older sister, Sheikha Al Jalila, who first attended Ascot last year, topped her royal blue dress with a lavender irredescent headpiece with star-shaped floral cutouts. The modern piece is a great scale on the young royal and the hue is so pretty against her colouring.


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Designer: bespoke Alexandra Harper Millinery
Previously Worn: This hat is new
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, clearly pleased after his horse Blue Point ran to victory in the King’s Stand Stakes with jockey William Buick, repeated his black silk top hat. His young son looks, based on these photos, like he needs some time to fully embrace hat wearing! So sweet.
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Photos from social media and Getty as indicated

Epsom Derby Day 2018

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The Investec Derby Festival was held at Epsom Downs Racecourse today and as in years past, a number of royal spectators were in attendance. Queen Elizabeth repeated her lavender straw hat with tall crown and flat brim, trimmed with silk leaves and peony blooms.

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It has been four years since this hat’s last outing and today’s reappearance reminds me of some of its best features- the delicate, trimmed green feather leaves, the perfect summery shade of purple, and the wonderful contrast provided by those silk peonies. The crown is slightly higher than what we usually see on the Queen but the molded shape is unique and balanced by its diagonal slope and the wide straw hatband.

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An interesting note, the coat paired with this hat today is usually paired with a different purple hat (see here). Coat swaps aside, the floral trim on the hat clearly links with the ensemble’s floral print dress- a mix I think works best with a glimpse of the dress peeking out from the coat rather than side by side, although it’s always a treat to see the hat directly against its matching dress.

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Designer: Rachel Trevor Morgan
Previously Worn: June 28, 2013; March 30, 2012; June 17, 2010

Princess Alexandra used the occasion today début a very sharp new hat.

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In pale pink straw, the hat follows a traditional boater shape with flat crown and brim. Its design flourish is a wide pink straw hatband, edged on both sides in a stripe of black straw and jauntily twisted at the side. This is an entirely new shape for Alexandra, who usually favours hats with much higher crowns. The scale and shape are fantastic on her and the hat’s styling today, with her elegant pink suit and patterned scarf, was spot on.

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Designer: Rachel Trevor Morgan
Previously Worn: this hat is new

Today’s top race was won by jockey William Buick on Masar, a horse from Sheikh Mohammed’s Godolphin stable. For this victory, Princess Haya was head-to-hem in red, a colour she always looks spectacular in. Her hat, a vertical saucer, is trimmed with a giant silk bloom tucked beneath the brim of the raised side. We often see Haya in larger, wider brimmed hats and the smaller scale of this one, thanks in part to its vertical position, is especially flattering for her.

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Designer: Philip Treacy. It is OC-445 from SS 2018
Previously Worn:

Sheikha Al Jalila and was also on hand to celebrate the Dubai royal family’s win in a small cream button hat with straw twists.

Crown Prince of Dubai, Sheikh Hamdan wore a grey felt top hat while Sheikh Mohammed repeated his top hat in black silk.

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Designer of Jalila’s hat: Philip Treacy
Previously Worn: this hat is new

Lady Carolyn Warren, daughter of Queen Elizabeth’s late friend and racing manager the 6th Earl of Carnarvon (known by his nickname “Porchy”) and wife of Her Majesty’s current racing manager John Warren, wore a wide brimmed cream straw hat with angular shaped crown and slightly upswept brim on one side. The hat is trimmed with a slim multi-layered hatband, cream silk roses and feathers. It’s an elegant design that pairs beautifully with her aqua tailored suit.

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Designer: Philip Treay
Previously Worn: This hat is new 

The races at Epsom always provide a taste of racing hats to come later in June and wow- what a way to whet our appetites! If this group of royal hats is anything to go by, we’re in for a fantastic month ahead.
Photos from Getty as indicated

Funeral of King Michael of Romania

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Representatives from several royal houses gathered in Bucharest on Saturday for the funeral of Romania’s last king.

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King Michael’s daughters, led by Crown Princess Margareta who is now styled as ‘Custodian of the Crown of Romania’, all wore conservatively styled black hats or veils. Princess Margareta’s bumper hat features a large, double bow at the back while Princess Elena’s hat has a cuffed brim in the same fur as her coat.  Royal Musings reported yesterday that Nicholas Medforth-Mills and his fiance Alina-Maria Binder were quietly married in a civil service (their religious wedding remains set for next summer) recently, presumably so that the couple could attend the funeral together.

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Romanian royal family, Dec 16, 2017 | Royal Hats

Alina Binder, Dec 16, 2017 | Royal Hats

Romanian royal family, Dec 16, 2017 | Royal Hats

Queen Silvia wore a black felt pillbox, wrapped in a silk pseudo bumper brim and trimmed with a flat bow at the back.

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Queen Sofia of Spain wore a loosely woven net veil anchored to her hair with a small back bow.

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Queen Anne-Marie wore a black felt bumper hat wrapped in a wide swath of dotted net veil. The hat features a double upturned brim, the inner of which is made of silk which lends lovely sheen and contrast to the monochrome piece. It is finished with a ruffled flourish at the back.

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Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna of Russia wore a black velvet pleated headpiece in her go-to traditional Kokoshnik shape to which was attached a black veil.

Grand Duchess Maria, Dec 16, 2017 | Royal Hats

Crown Princess Katherine of Serbia wore a simple black hat with rounded crown and relaxed mushroom brim.

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Princess Astrid of Belgium wore a black faux fur pillbox trimmed with a silk rosette and leaves.

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Princess Muna of Jordan wore a white lace veil. Behind her, Princess Isabelle of Liechtenstein wore a large black straw hat with wide, exaggerated mushroom brim. The crown appears to be wrapped in a wide straw hatband (almost in the style of a bumper brim) overlaid in a dotted sheer organza or crin.

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Photos from Getty as indicated;  Simion Mechno, Simion Mechno, and Simion Mechno via Agerpres Foto; NurPhoto via Getty; REUTERS/Stoyan Nenov

Jordan & Luxembourg Royals Attend Sandhurst Parade

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The passing out parade at Sandhurst yesterday was attended by members of the Jordan and Luxembourg royal families, on hand to offer their congratulations to Crown Prince Hussein of Jordan and Prince Sébastien of Luxembourg who were among the new graduates completing their officer training at the prestigious military academy in Surrey (Prince Wenzel of Liechtenstein and Shaikh Mohammed bin Hamad bin Salman Al Khalifa of Bahrain were also graduates).

 

 

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King Abdallah, a 1981 graduate of the Royal Military Academy himself, stood in for Queen Elizabeth to oversee the Sovereign’s Parade.

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Grand Duke Henri, a 1975 Sandhurst graduate and Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume, a 2002 graduate, both attended in military uniform with caps. Grand Duchess Maria Teresa wore a vibrant pink saucer hat in matching straw that looks to be a near identical twin to the cherry red hat she wore for Luxembourg’s National Day celebrations in June. The saucer follows a gentle curve that raises at the back and, like its twin, is simply trimmed with a looped ribbon of straw. The shape is a little too clunky (from the front, it does look like someone sat upon it), the binding a little too thick and the straw ribbon trim too random for this hat to be a winner for me.

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Designer: Fabienne Delvigne
Previously Worn: This hat is new

The Hereditary Grand Duchess, Princess Stéphanie, wore a pale aqua straw hat with wide, gently upswept brim on one side, trimmed with a slim layered straw hatband in the same hue that tied at the side. From the side view below, you’ll note that the hatband continued around the brim of the hat in several large loops. We haven’t seen Stéphanie in many wide brims and while I want to encourage such millinery experimentation for her, something about its combination with her dress and coat was slightly off balance. I may prefer this ensemble with the smaller, quirkier hat she originally paired with it.

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Princess Stéphanie, Aug 11, 2017 | Royal Hats
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Designer: Amelie D’Hooghvorst
Previously Worn: This hat is new

Princess Claire wore a pale pink straw hat piped a narrow stripe of burgundy piping. From far away, the hat looks like a raised ‘slice’ brim design but it is actually a large saucer with domed crown and curved front brim. I like the side view much better than the front, where the piece unfortunately resembles a wonky, sideways-worn cowboy hat.

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Princess Claire, Aug 11, 2017 | Royal Hats

Designer: unknown
Previously Worn: I believe this hat is new
Princess Alexandra repeated her rose-beige straw hat with pork pie crown, floppy brim and grosgrain ribbon hat band finished at the side with a flat bow. It’s not the most refined piece in her millinery closet but paired well with her navy silk dress.

Princess Alexandra, Aug 11, 2017 | Royal Hats

Designer: unknown
Previously Worn: June 23, 2016
Thoughts about the hats in Surrey yesterday?
Grand Ducal Family, Aug 11, 2017 | Royal Hats
Photos from Getty as indicated; Cour grand-ducale / Lola Velasco