Tag Archives: Carina Axelsson

Hats From the Past: Christening of Princess Isabella

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Thirteen years ago today, Princess Isabella of Denmark was christened in an intimate service held in the chapel of Fredensborg Palace, the Danish royal family’s summer home.

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Crown Princess Mary topped a dusky pink Birgit Hallstein dress with the same cream silk flower bandeau headpiece by Malene Birger she had worn for Prince Christian’s baptism in 2006 (and she would later repeat for the christening of Prince Vincent and Princess Josephine in 2011).

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Larger than a bandeau, the headpiece’s scale gives it enough presence to stand on its own without obscuring a view of the baby and the floral motif gives is a delicacy and charm that feels very right for the occasion. The colour is so wonderful against Princess Mary’s hair and easily pairs with different ensembles, although this dress fell flat for me. In this ensemble, I think the headpiece was one of the most successful elements.

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Queen Margrethe wore her recognizable pink and green ensemble with patterned floral silk dress and wide brimmed vibrant green straw picture hat, trimmed with pink straw loops. Ever the romantic, Prince Henrik tied in his ensemble with a pink shirt.

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Princess Benedikte topped her pink coat with the loveliest ecru straw brimmed hat (how elegant are the lines on the brim’s  cartwheel shape) trimmed with a pink spray of silk flowers on the side. Her daughter, Princess Alexandra of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg, wore a bandeau headpiece of deep purple flowers.  Carina Axelsson topped her pink dress with a pale almond straw brimmed hat with gently sidesweeping brim, trimmed with an ecru wide hatband and side ruffled bow. Queen Anne-Marie of Greece wore a wheat coloured straw hat with upturned, rimmed kettle brim and a textural, woven hatband.

Princess Isabella’s godmothers included Queen Mathilde and Prince Frederik’s first cousin, Princess Alexia of Greece and Denmark. Mathilde topped her lace coat with a matching wide padded bandeau headpiece, covered in the same lace and trimmed with a multi-looped black silk side bow. Princess Alexia wore a cream bandeau headpiece with spray of goose biot feathers on the side.

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Royal guests included Crown Princess Victoria who wore a bandeau headpiece with textured fabric base, trimmed with applique flowers and a pair of feather quills. Crown Princess Mette-Marit wore her gold Prada headband with blush silk bow on one side.

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Princess Mary’s stepmother, Susan Donaldson, wore a deep eggplant silk floral fascinator with dotted tulle bow.

Looking back, this event is a noticeably more informal and intimate affair than Prince Christian’s baptism was, just 18 months earlier.  The palate is so light and summery, although today’s current popularity of bandeau style headpieces makes me surprised to see so many here, 13 years ago! Perhaps these royal ladies were just ahead of fashion?!

What do you think of these royal hat looks? Which ones stand out most to you?

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Photos from Getty as indicated; Polfoto

Hats From the Past: Christening of Danish Twins

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Nine years ago this week, Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary brought their young twins, Prince Vincent and Princess Josephine, to Holmens Church in Copenhagen to be baptised.

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Crown Princess Mary repeated the cream silk flower bandeau headpiece by Malene Birger she had worn for Prince Christian’s christening in 2006 and Princess Isabella’s in 2007.

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The delicate headpiece is a great option for an event like this, beautifully framing Princess Mary’s face while allowing for a full view of the baby. It’s a flattering and wearable piece that works so well against her dark hair and adds a lovely amount of softness to the overall ensemble, tying in so well with these exquisite antique christening gowns.  The styling here is also impeccable with great colour contrast between the headpiece and Mary’s saturated blue dress (it works so much better than the competing patterns it was paired with on its first outing) and a few statement jewelry pieces that add that bit of regal ‘wow’ to the elegantly streamlined ensemble.

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Princess Isabella looked charming in a pink hairbow to match her silk dress, tied to the braid on the side of her head.

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Queen Margrethe wore a brimless design covered in the same vibrant blue weave as her coat. The hat is trimmed with a wide stripe of plaited velvet ribbon and braid that wraps over the hat and a pair of feather spines circled with in curled goose biot feathers.

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Princess Marie topped her pale greige wool coat with a straw beret-based percher hat in the same colour from British brand Whiteley. The hat is trimmed with a triple looped straw curl.

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Princess Benedkite topped her mint coat with a warm toast brown hat of sewn braid with Breton style upturned brim. The hat is trimmed in a wide mint petersham ribbon hatband that ties in a bow at the back, topped with a slim coppery brown ribbon. Queen Anne-Marie wore a navy straw classically-shaped pillbox hat trimmed with a small navy velvet bow at the front.

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Princess Tatiana of Greece topped her navy ensemble with a blue feather headpiece, formed in the shape of a lotus flower. The hat is surrounded by burnt feathers and a striped quill with gentle curl in the center completes it. Prince Gustav of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (Princess Benedikte’s eldest son, who is one of Prince Vincent’s godparents) attended with his parnter, Carina Axelsson, who wore a pink floral headpiece tucked into her chignon.

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Prince Charles and Princess Camilla of Bourbon Two Sicilies attended the event (Prince Charles is one of Princess Josephine’s godparents). Camilla wore a characteristically flamboyant ensemble topped with a watermelon pink straw pyramid hat bound in a wide stripe of burgundy velvet and topped with a mass of deep pink feathers.

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Princess Mary’s stepmother Susan Donaldson wore a sculpted wire flower headpiece and her sister Patricia wore a calot headpiece of embellished grey feathers.

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How do these milliner designs hold up, nearly a decade later? What looks here stand out most to you?

Photos from Getty as indicated

This Week’s Extras

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The Akishinos completed their visit to Poland and moved on to Finland. For their first day of events there, Crown Princess Kiko wore two hats- a navy (or black?) brimmed design with white crown, black ruched hatband and back bow; and a cuffed calot with side bow in palest grey textured fabric
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Thursday, the Duchess of Sussex made an unexpected appearance at Wimbledon to watch her good friend Serena Williams. She repeated a ready-to wear- informal fedora with black hatband, the ‘x Biltmore Panama Hat’ by Madewell
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Princess Anne celebrated 50 years of the Royal Navy’s Continuous At Sea Deterrent in Clyde, Scotland on Thursday
Prince Albert was in Brussels yesterday to see the start of the 106th Tour de France
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Carina Axelsson, partner of Princess Benedikte’s eldest son, Prince Gustav of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg shared this photo of herself in a black feathered fascinator taken back at Trooping the Colour in early June

Queen Sonja in a red rain hat on Saturday to attend the Helgeland Festival Mosjøen where she opened a set of stone steps up built by Nepalese sherpas that climb over 800 meteres to the top of Øyfjellet Mountain.

The following new millinery designs caught my eye this week:
Beautiful crown shape on this chic summer straw hat from French brand, Maison Michel
Adore the pattern in this floral disc hat with flying bow by Irish milliner Carol Kennelly
Ecru straw boater with amazing, detachable father sailboat trim by Russian-born UK milliner Maria Zherebtsova
Breathtaking aqua saucer with hand-painted lace and impeccable silk binding by Dutch milliner Wies Mauduit
Fun (and airy!) twist on a classic bowler by London-based Spanish milliner Rafael Peinador
Winter white felt trilby with blue stripped pheasant feathers by UK milliner Siana Yewdall
Chic straw baseball caps from Italian brand Borsalino
Kokoshnik bandeau of silk flowers studded with branches and birds by UK brand Bombini Studio
An oversize ivory brimmed picture hat with orange bloom at the Henley Regatta on a familiar face!

And from Melbourne-based brand Taboo Millinery, this hand carved and painted black and white boater. Amazing!

Charming summer family photo shared by Prince Carl Phillip and Princess Sofia. Those young princes are growing like weeds!
Great peek inside the new Dutch government jet that will transport King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima around the world. I wonder if the king will also pilot it?!
And finally, this sweet new summer portrait of the Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall, released recently for the 50th anniversary of the Prince’s investiture as Prince of Wales

Photos from social media as indicated

This Week’s Extras

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Royal Hats

Carina Axelssohn shared this snap taken with her dogs on a mountain walk last Sunday in a fuzzy faux fur hat

Sweet red double hair bow for Princess Estelle on Thursday to receive the Swedish royal family’s Christmas trees along with her mum and brother (Swedish Royal Court). She also wore a glittery hairbow and feather boa to a pantomime theatre performance yesterday.

Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary in Australia on Tuesday in sporty hats for a sailing race

Princess Yoko in a black bumper hat at a Dec 5 memorial for the late Prince Mikasa (Imperial Family of Japan)

June is such a busy month here at Royal Hats, it’s no wonder we missed Princess Nobuko paying a visit to the JS Takanami. Her hat, a wide brimmed white straw design, has an unusually shaped brim and looks to be embellished with some sort of net tulle wrap and a bow at the back. It’s a unique shape for an Imperial royal hat. 

Kensington Palace confirmed that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will attend church with the Queen and royal family on Christmas morning. For those of you waiting for Meghan’s first royal hat, I suspect that will be it. Also- mark your calendars for May 19 and hope for a daytime wedding. Daytime = HATS!!

New millinery designs shared this week that stand out to me include:

British millinery Stephen Jones pushes creativity again with this hat made of 35mm film
Lovely loden green felt fedora with a delicious hit of fuschia from Goldust Millinery
Red straw statement hat with floral appliques and pleated pink crin halo brim from With Grace Millinery
Beautiful white straw wide brimmed hat covered in beaded black applique from Nerida Fraiman
Yellow and green crystal tipped feather fascinator from California based
Stunning royal blue fedora/pork pie hybrid (that looks far better than it sounds!) from Susanne Juul
The navy straw-base cocktail hat with twists, veil and jewelled button by British milliner Edwina Ibbotson
worn by J.K. Rowling on Tuesday to receive the Companion of Honour at Buckingham Palace

And this stunning dark plum fedora with floral embroidered applique by British Layla Leigh Millinery

 Royal Hats

Sneek peek at the Spanish royal family’s Christmas photo card

Princess Charlene shared the sweetest holiday snap of Princess Gabriella and Prince Jacques, taken by Vanessa Von Zitzewitz

New pictures released this week of Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa, including a sweet snap of the Grand Duchess with her pups

Princess Martha Louise of Norway posted this Christmas wish, showing her great sense of humour (and a touching reminder that royals deal with many of the same life challenges as the rest of us)

A stunning new portrait of the Duke of Edinburgh painted by Australian born artist Ralph Heimans for an exhibition at the Museum of National History at Frederiksborg Castle in Demark

This Week’s Extras

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Royal Hats

Carina Axelsson shared a snap while out for a walk in her brown felt Tyrolean hat

Princess Marie in a cosy knit hat on Monday at Tivoli Park for an afternoon of fun with several families dealing with childhood autism (Danish Court)

Lady Amelia Windsor in a courduroy cap with braided trim in a snap shared on her social media this week

Princess Anne in a casual canvas hat during her trip earlier this week to Madagascar

Today in Portsmouth, she donned military uniform to celebrate 100 years of women in the navy

Hats that stood out to me this week that I’d love to see on a few royal heads:

Sleek grey felt embellished cloche from Fabienne Delvigne
Wonderful take on a classic straw boater from Mind Your Bonce Millinery
Magenta percher with black rings, feathers and sequins by Rosie Olivia
Unusual and fascinating brim on this black & white design from Dutch milliner Myra van de Korput
Navy fedora studded with tiny swarovski crystals by Jane Taylor
Pink straw button percher with white feather poinsettia bloom from Tasmania based Cessiah Alice Millinery
Striking red, fuchsia and purple layered straw halo hat by Australian brand Peacock Millinery
Chic blue boater with brim trimmed in smart navy braid by French milliner Veronica Marucci Chapeaux
Luxe trilby in pinky beige fur felt with crystal studded hatband from Jess Collett

And this picture hat with stacked, textured double brim with flying black straw bows from Australian milliner Louise MacDonald

 Royal Hats

Interesting interview with Grand Duke George of Russia (Vanity Fair via The Russian Legitimist)

New portrait of Princess Leonor, released by the Spanish court for her 12th birthday

 

Prince Jigme Namgyel joined his parents on a visit to India this week- his first overseas tour.



And finally, this very sweet exchange between the Duke of Cambridge and a young recipient of the Pride of Britain award.