This Week’s Extras

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Royal Hats

Tatiana Santo Domingo’s fair trade fashion line “Muzungu Sisters” showed a collection at Monaco Fashion Week 2017 yesterday. She wore an interesting headpiece from the collection to a related event Thursday night where she was joined by her husband and sisters-in-law Beatrice Borromeo and Princess Alexandra. Bohemian royal tiara, anyone?

Tatiana Santo Domingo, June 2, 2017 | Royal Hats

 Tatiana Santo Domingo, June 2, 2017 | Royal Hats

Infanta Elena in a pair of straw fedoras last week at the Global Champions Tour tournament in Madrid. She repeated these hats at bullfights on May 30 in Aranjuez with her children and June 1in Madrid with her father.

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 King Albert and Queen Paola in casual hats for their recent visit to the Basilica of Avioth in French Lorraine. We’ve not seen Queen Paola much this year following her back injury and it’s great to see her up and around.

Great snap of King Juan Carlos and King Felipe taken yesterday at the 300th anniversary of the Marine Guard Company in Marín. Both kings are former graduates of the naval academy and looked quite dapper in their summer naval whites.

Rachel Trevor Morgan at Epsom today in a very fun, floral trimmed saucer hat of her own design. Vibrant statement hat + impeccably tailored monochrome coat = perfect ensemble for the races

 Royal Hats

The Countess of Wessex published a piece about her work to eliminate trachoma (Huffington Post)

Very interesting interview with Princess Haya bint Al Hussein (Tatler)

Buckingham Palace released this short behind the scenes look at the preparations royal gardeners complete before each Garden Party.

Princess Mako is visiting Bhutan this week- her meeting with the King and Queen yesterday yielded some lovely photographs (traditional dress is always so beautiful) and her vibrant blue outfit to open Japan week made me smile.

Beautiful portraits of Crown Princess Victoria were released yesterday for her upcoming 40th birthday.

And finally, stunning shots of Queen Elizabeth taken this week by royal photographer extraordinaire, Chris Jackson

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Photos from social media as indicated and Semana

Top Royal Hats April 2017

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My apologies, dearest readers, for forgetting to share your choices for top new and top repeated royal hats worn in April. Two clear winners came out of these contests:

Queen Máxima’s grey felt picture hat with upswept brim by Fabienne Delvigne worn April 7 in Delft

Queen Elizabeth’s lilac-grey straw hat with straw flowers by Rachel Trevor Morgan worn April 11

Jump over to the bottom of the original poll posts (new hats here and repeated hats here) to look at the results in greater detail or head over to the Fan Favourites page to see a growing tally of your favourite hats of 2017.  Stay tuned early next week for the next set of polls facing off hats we saw worn in May.

Photos from from Patrick van Katwijk and WPA Pool via Getty

Queen and Duke Host Garden Party

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Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh hosted another garden party at Buckingham Palace this afternoon. The Queen surprised in a hat she has not worn often, a design in pale blue straw. This piece is a masterful work of texture with linear woven straw shown to great effect in the hat’s symmetrical, flat crown and lattice woven straw giving wonderful movement to the brim. The straw hatband and large front bow, which would look twee on almost any other design, work wonderfully here, playing against the otherwise sleek lines and shape of the hat. Paired with Her Majesty’s pale blue jacquard coat and dress, the ensemble is an example of how to dress hat to hem in the same hue without being overly matched or boring. It’s a brilliant hat and I’m so happy to see it again (thus confirming it has not yet been retired!).

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Designer: Philip Somerville
Previously Worn:June 10, 2014; June 19, 2008; November 26, 2005

The Duke of Edinburgh repeated his grey felt top hat with black hatband. In a sweet sartorial touch, you’ll see his tie is matched to his wife’s ensemble.

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Princess Alexandra repeated the cream straw hat we first saw her wear to Alexandra Knatchbull’s wedding last summer. With a rounded crown and cartwheel brim, the hat is embellished with a cream widely woven net veil, pale mist green silk roses and tiny curling feathers. I usually prefer brighter colours on Alexandra but this is a beautiful hat on her and perfect for an event such as this.

Princess Alexandra, June 1, 2017 in RTM | Royal Hats Princess Alexandra, June 1, 2017 in RTM | Royal Hats

Designer:  Rachel Trevor Morgan
Previously Worn: June 25, 2016
Princess Alexandra’s brother, the Duke of Kent, repeated his grey felt top hat. While our resident top hat experts have long aggrieved the fit of this piece, I can’t tear my eyes away from the hatband, which desperately needs to be steamed. Please, Edward- take care of this.

 

Duke of Kent, June 1, 2017 | Royal Hats

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The Duchess of Gloucester repeated her grey straw cuffed bumper hat with matching veil. I love how Brigitte places the hat at a rakish angle, giving the simple piece a bit of drama. With her navy dress and pearls, the hat tops a classic ensemble and she wears it wonderfully well.

Duchess of Gloucester, June 1, 2017 | Royal Hats

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Designer: unknown
Previously Worn: July 1, 2016; June 12, 2016; June 10, 2016
Aside from a certain top hat that needs some care, the hats today at Buckingham Palace were all winners for me. What are your thoughts on this parade of garden party hats?
Photos from Getty as indicated; WPA Pool via Getty; Press Association via the British Monarchy

Nordic Royals Celebrate 100 Years of Finland’s Independence

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Nordic heads of state arrived in Helsinki today to take part in official celebrations for the centenary of Finland’s independence. As is expected, the Scandinavian queens all wore hats.

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Queen Margrethe of Denmark stood out in her repeated red bumper hat with navy floral bow at the side, a piece that coordinates well with her red coat and floral dress.

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Designer: likely Per Falk Hansen
Previously Worn: Oct 4, 2016; Sep 5, 2016; May 24, 2016

Queen Sonja of Norway repeated the hat, dress and coat she first wore for her and the King’s silver jubilee last year. The streamlined white straw hat features a flat crown and gently upswept brim that curves up around the back and is simply trimmed with a white hat band and slim cords of wired straw.

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Queen Sonja, June 1, 2017 | Royal Hats

Designer: unknown
Previously Worn: June 23, 2016

Queen Silvia of Sweden repeated the blue calot she first wore in February during the Canadian state visit. If you jump back to that post, you’ll see a better view of this blue felt moulded calot shape with widely woven net overlay and mixed feather trim on the side.

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Designer: Kerstin Carlefalk
Previously Worn: Feb 20, 2017

While we have seen each of these hats before, they are not greatly familiar (yet!) and today’s centenary gave us another opportunity to see them in action. Any thoughts about this trio of Nordic royal hats?

 

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Photos from Getty as indicated; Vesa Moilanen / Lehtikuva / NTB scanpix via The Norwegian Royal Court

Catching Up On Royal Hats

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After a short vacation, I’m back refreshed and ready for what will be a very busy upcoming month of royal hats! Thanks so much for keeping the conversation going while I was away- you readers are absolutely wonderful. A few of you have requested a post with photos of all the hats we missed over the past week – here we go.

May 21:  Princess Anne attending Day 2 of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland 2017 in a repeated hat with tall, navy straw crown and cream brim trimmed with navy straw bow loops, silk flowers and feather quills. She wore it most recently in June 2015 at garden party (jump to this post for better views).

May 24: Queen Sonja of Norway opened the 65th Bergen International Festival in a repeated gold straw hat with high, domed crown, flat brim and wide silk hatband we saw her last wear in June 2015.

Queen Sonja, May 24, 2017 | Royal Hats

May 24: The Duchess of Cornwall presented RAF Halton with new colours. She repeated a hat by Lock and Co. with a tall crown, upturned kettle brim and side bow in nubbly natural straw.

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May 24: The Duke of Edinburgh and the Earl of Wessex presented the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award gold awards at Buckingham Palace in a pair of straw Panama hats

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May 25: Queen Elizabeth visited the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital and an equestrian farm in Staffordshire, repeating the orange straw cloche with wrap around the crown that she first wore for Ascot last year. Designed by Angela Kelly, the hat is trimmed with orange straw bows, silk roses and royal blue feathers.

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May 25: Empress Michiko, Princess Kiko, Princess Hisako and Princess Nobuko attended the Japanese Red Cross Society annual meeting. Empress Michicko repeated a white saucer with blow and transparent lattice underbrim and Princess Kiko repeated a bowler variation with upturned, kettle brim and pleated hatband in the same ice blue printed silk as her suit. Princess Hisako wore a charcoal grey straw design with wide, dotted hatband sash that tied in a bow at the side while Princess Nobuko repeated a white hat with rolled brim and crisp navy hatband with white pinstripes.

Imperial Royal Family, May 25, 2017 | Royal Hats

Empress Michiko, May 25, 2017 | Royal Hats  Princess Kiko, May 25, 2017 | Royal Hats

Princess Hisako, May 25, 2017 | Royal Hats  Princess Nobuko, May 25, 2017 | Royal Hats

May 25: Princess Eugenie co-hosted a Buckingham Palace garden party with her father to celebrate the Centenary of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA). She wore a new gold straw hat with inverted crin brim by Nerida Fraiman (it’s the Crin Disc Gold from SS 2017). I adore the shape and sheen of this design.

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May 26: Princess Anne delivered closing remarks at the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland 2017 (read parts of her speech here). She looked fantastic in an emerald green dress topped with a cream straw hat with diagonal crown and sharply upturned brim on one side. The hat is trimmed with a mass of cream feathers on the lowered side of the brim and stacked hatbands in gold and caramel straw. While the hat follows a very similar shape and colour to the one she debuted for Easter last year, I think this one is different. Have any of you seen it before?

May 27: Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko travelled to Toyama to attend the 68th National Tree-Planting Festival. On the first day of their three day visit, Empress Michiko repeated a large, white, domed saucer hat trimmed in a black and caramel striped silk bow she most recently wore during their last visit to this region in October 2015.

Empress Michiko, May 27, 2017 | Royal Hats

May 27: Charlotte Casiraghi photographed attending a wedding in Italy in a white cuffed calot hat. It’s a repeated pice that was worn several decades earlier by her mother, Princess Caroline.

May 28: Empress Michicko on Day 2 in Toyama in a large white saucer with a coordinating bow to her lime and black and white hounds tooth checked suit she first wore June 1, 2014. How wonderful is that hit of lime!

Empress Michiko, May 28, 2017 | Royal Hats  Empress Michiko, May 28, 2017 | Royal Hats

Empress Michiko, May 28, 2017 | Royal Hats 

May 28: Queen Elizabeth en route to Crathie Church for Sunday Service in a repeated magenta straw hat with upswept brim, white straw hatband, straw loops at the side and a pair of magenta feathers. Jump over to this post for better photos from this Rachel Trevor Morgan design’s most recent outing in May 2016.

May 29: Empress Michicko wrapping up the visit to Toyama in her repeated, teal blue, rimmed saucer with grey, black and white plaid bow in the same silk as her skirt. She wore it last June 4, 2016

Empress Michiko, May 29, 2017 | Royal Hats  Empress Michiko, May 29, 2017 | Royal Hats

May 31: Today, The Duke of Edinburgh hosted a reception at Buckingham Palace to celebrate the London Youth charity’s 130th anniversary. He looked rather dapper in his straw Panama hat.

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I think that catches us up! I think there’s only one hat here that didn’t make it into your discussion- Princess Anne’s cream straw hat worn with the green dress. I think this is a knockout outfit for her and am curious to hear what you think. Any final thoughts on the hats we’ve seen over the past week?