to August 15, 1995 and a sharp navy and white Philip Somerville hat worn to watch a parade down the Mall during V.J. Day commemorations. While the colour scheme is classic, the oversized, flared crown shape and wide hatband are certainly of the time.
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Photos from Getty as indicated
eighty one years ago yesterday to August 12, 1938 and Queen Mary in a wonderful summer lace dress topped with a draped (and feathered!) toque hat.
Photo from Getty as indicated
Thanks to Jimbo for providing the introduction and background research for this “Monday Multiples” series.
Jimbo’s Introduction: On April 21, 1986, Queen Elizabeth celebrated her 60th birthday by gifting US: two hats on the same day, and they couldn’t be more different! The sunny yellow brim-less tam which matched HM’s cheerful spring coat could be seen from the Buckingham Palace balcony very easily. For the Royal carriage ride, a black straw hat with a wonderfully unique brim was chosen – sheer and wavy. Her Majesty chose the same ensemble two months later for the Royal Ascot, sans coat this time. Chic and elegant.
Look #1: Yellow stitched tam trimmed with white braid and silk flowers and leaves worn February 17, 1986 in Nepal and on April 21, 1986 on the Buckingham Palace balcony
Look #2: Black straw crowned hat with transparent, waved brim also worn on April 21, 1986 and on June 18, 1986 to Royal Ascot
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It’s not often that the Queen changes hats half way through an event. Which hat do you prefer most with this yellow coat?
Photos from Getty as indicated
Today we wrap up our look back 20 years to the July 9, 1999 wedding of Princess Alexia and Carlos Quintana with a view of the remaining royal guest’s hats. We’ll start with Grand Duchess Josephine, who wore an ecru straw boater variation. The hat’s tall, flat crown was wrapped in a folded straw hatband that tied in a bow at the back, centered with a straw rosette. A subtle curve in the brim (upward in front, downward in back) gave some movement to the design.
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Queen Noor of Jordan (the eighth queen in attendance, for those of you counting!) wore a beautifully embroidered while silk scarf with scalloped edge.
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Crown Princess Katherine of Yugoslavia wore an ivory sinamay hat with tall crown and upturned kettle brim edged in pale peach silk. Overlapping figure eights in ivory sinamay and peach silk with a large trimmed cream feather completed the design.
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Crown Princess Margarita of Romania, as was her title then, topped her cream suit with a navy straw boater variation with tall crown and short brim, simply trimmed with a wide navy silk hatband.
Princess Miriam of Bulgaria wore an ecru straw brimmed hat with what looks like a crin overlay.
Princess Rosario of Bulgaria wore a fantastical gold lattice straw Philip Treacy hat with fluted crown that extended into a wide, gently sideswept brim. The hat, which linked to gold embroidery on the waist of her Valentino skirt, was lavishly trimmed with gold silk flowers and leaves and sinamay twists, all studded with a mass of gold arrow trimmed feathers.
Princess Carla of Bulgaria wore a purple sinamay teardrop layered percher hat trimmed with painterly silk flowers in dark burgundy. It’s a hat with deep richness I think I’d really like if we could better view it’s detail (and see it with a less jarringly contrasting, more harmonious ensemble). I suspect Queen Margarita of Bulgaria also attended this event (bringing up the queen tally to nine!) but I’m afraid, photos elude me.
That concludes our look back at this wedding and the 26 royal hats worn to it. Some of you have commented on the prevalence of wide brims- what else do you notice about this particular group of hats?
Photos from Getty as indicated; LANGEVIN JACQUES/CORBIS SYGMA; ORBAN THIERRY/CORBIS SYGMA; BEIRNE BRENDAN/CORBIS SYGMA
Continuing our look back at the July 9, 1999 wedding of Princess Alexia of Greece and Carlos Quintana, we turn our attention to hats worn by members of the Norwegian and Swedish royal families. Queen Sonja topped an iridescent lime suit with a picture hat in slightly darker green straw. The hat featured a shallow, rounded crown and a wide brim with dowturned edge and was trimmed with lovely lime silk orchids.
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Queen Silvia also wore a hat much larger than the styles we see her favour most often today. In dove grey straw, her picture hat’s round, flat crown topped an oversize mushroom brim. The hat was simply trimmed with a wide grey silk hat and and brim binding. With her grey ensemble, the overall look oozed elegance.
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Crown Princess Victoria was just 22 at the time of this wedding and, I suspect, not yet a customer of couture hats. Her slouchy brown stitched hat followed an hourglass shape (popular at the time) with upturned Kettle brim and bow on the side.
Princess Madeleine wore a pink sinamay hat. The hat’s boater style crown was covered in pleated rows of crin and the cartwheel brim, in a relaxed crin ruffle overlay. The hat’s classic shape in light crin embellishment made a sweet and feminine choice for the teenage princess, even if the trailing bow down the back was a bit twee.
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Some of you have commented on the large number of picture hats at this wedding and the two added here were among my favourites. What do you think of these hats?
Photos from Getty as indicated
Royal Hats 