to ~1961 and this wonderful portrait of the Grimaldi family. Princess Grace’s fur pillbox is trimmed with a wonderfully prim bot and Prince Albert looks most dashing in a plaid cap.
Images from social media as indicated
Category Archives: Vintage: Hats From The Past
Hat From the Past
to March 1982 when the Queen Mother attended the Cheltenham Races in this fantastic woven pink turban with silk flowers.
Image from Getty as indicated
1954 Australian Tour: Mt. Gambier & Melbourne
Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh continued their tour of Australian on February 26, 1954, flying to Hamilton from Melbourne for a day trip there which included a jaunt to the South Australian town of Mt. Gambier.
The Queen repeated the blue silk shantung coat earlier worn in Wollongong on February 11 with matching braided blue straw calot. The hat’s cuffed brim was studded with small blue silk flowers and the hat was trimmed with a veil and black bow at the back.
One spectator in Mt. Gambier drew particularly attention: 18-year-old Shirley Weston, known as the Australian ‘snake girl’ who was there on behalf on the South Australian Showmen’s Guild. The Sydney Morning Herald reported that Prince Philip nearly fell out of the Royal car when he saw Shirley standing by the roadside, draped with an 8-foot python and 6-foot carpet snake. It’s widely understood that the Queen and Duke both adore unexpected surprises on royal engagements and I can only imagine they were long delighted by their encounter with young Shirley!
On Saturday, February 27, attended Flemington Races and the Australia vs. South Africa tennis match at the Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club. Her denim blue silk dress and coat was topped with a matching calot hat rimmed in overlapping blue leaves. Notice the sparkling diamond wattle brooch, gifted to earlier this tour, on her lapel.
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Embed from Getty Images
On Sunday, February 28, the royal couple attended Divine Service at St Paul’s Cathedral followed by a visit to Melbourne’s Shine of Remembrance monument. For these events, the Queen wore a floral dress, muted green coat and a white calot hat covered in ruffles.
Embed from Getty Images
Embed from Getty Images
Images from Getty social media as indicated
1954 Australian Tour: Tasmania & Melbourne
On Tuesday, February 23, 1954, Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh left Hobart for Northern Tasmania. Landing in Wynyard, they embarked on a whistle stop tour of Northern towns Burnie, Penguin, Ulverstone, Devonport, Letrobe, Deloraine, Westbury and Longford before stopping in Cressy for the night. For this full day, the Queen wore a sky blue tailored suit and striped blue and white collarless blouse. The lapels of the belted peplum jacket were in the same striped fabric as the blouse, on the bias; the Queen finished the crisp ensemble with a white calot hat with folded back bonnet brim and a waved pleat on the side.
On Wednesday, February 23, 1954, the royal couple spent the morning on Launceston before flying to Melbourne for a series of welcome events that afternoon. The Queen wore a pale gold silk dress dotted with small black spots and matching coat with black buttons and velvet collar (see a better view here, taken in January 1954 in New Zealand). The ensemble was finished with black accessories including a black straw hat with small rounded crown and visor style brim trimmed with a black velvet slim hatband and side bow and a black veil.
After opening Victoria’s parliament on Thursday, February 25, the royal couple attended a massive gathering of ex-service men and women and war widows at Melbourne Cricket Ground. Queen Elizabeth wore an casque design of individually made, overlapping leaves (or petals?) trimmed with a net veil.
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Images from Getty and social media as indicated
1954 Australian Tour: Hobart
On Saturday, February 20, 1954, Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh arrived in Hobart, Tasmania.
For their arrival, the queen wore a pale silver silk dress and tailored coat, topped with a silver and black pinstripe silk folded brimless hat trimmed with a curled black feather on the side.
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Embed from Getty Images
On Sunday February 21, the couple attended Divine Service at St. David’s Cathedral then laid a wreath of remembrance at the Queen’s Domain war memorial. For these events, the Queen repeated a green printed dress topped with a green blazer and matching silk draped calot hat. You can see coloured photos of this ensemble, taken on its previous outing on January 19, 1954 in Christchurch New Zealand, here and here.
On the morning of Monday, February 22, Her Majesty opened Tasmanian parliament.
Embed from Getty Images
Embed from Getty Images
That afternoon, she and the Duke attended a Garden Party (also attended by over 4000 guests!) in the grounds of Government House. For this last event in Hobart, Queen Elizabeth repeated the silk suit she had worn on February 14 to church in Canberra, topped this time with a pale calot. I suspect the hat was the same calot with coiled pyramid side trim that she wore in Newcastle on February 9.
Images from Getty social media as indicated
Royal Hats 