Catching Up On Royal Hats

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?

Monaco National Day 2016

Monaco’s royal family celebrated their country’s National Day today with a series of events, as per tradition, held at the Monaco Cathedral and at the Royal Palace. It is one of the few events during the year when we see these royals in hats and today did not disappoint.

Princess Charlene wowed in a cream straw pyramid hat trimmed with black straw piping around the crown and brim, a multi looped bow, black leaves and hand made red silk roses. The high contrast scheme is a bold one for Charlene and the shape is unlike anything we have seen her wear before. Charlene’s millinery until this point has had a distinctly modern edge and this very classic design is a surprise that some might find overly sweet for her. I happen to like it- I love the quintessentially French vibe (kudos to British milliner Rachel Trevor Morgan) and adore how Charlene matched her lipstick to the rose trim.

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

Princess Caroline repeated her tan percher cocktail hat with flat, pillbox shaped base trimmed with a voluminous mass of net veil. Many of you will remember this from the Luxembourg royal wedding four years ago. It’s a fun neutral piece but not one I’m entirely convinced worked with her Chanel suit (I prefer it with the dress she paired it with originally)

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Designer: Maison Michel for Chanel
Previously Worn: October 20, 2012

Tatiana Santo Domingo Casiraghi topped her red and white (Monaco’s national colours) coat with a domed black straw cocktail. The milliner describes the design saying, “That cocktail hat has a bow with vintage French satin ribbon and a veil, which I think she tucked under for the sake of the conversation!” The simple design is a versatile piece that I think might have worked better placed at a different angle on her head (up and down, over her right eyebrow).

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Designer: Abigail Aldridge Millinery
Previously Worn: I believe this hat is new

Charlotte Casiraghi also dressed in national colours, topping her ensemble with a red veiled bumper hat. This couture hat is an editorial, high fashion piece and while I’m not a fan of the hat shape, veil around Charlotte’s face and complicated cascadedown the back, it’s certainly a fashion statement with big impact.

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Designer: Gucci
Previously Worn: This hat is new

Beatrice Borromeo Casiraghi topped her cream dress and coat with a pale grey padded bandeau headpiece. Exciting? Not really. But I think it’s more flattering than the red hat above and that’s worth merit.

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Designer: unknown
Previously Worn: This hat is new

Baroness Elisabeth-Anne de Massy (below, center), daughter of the late Princess Antoinette, wore a simple grey felt cloche hat while her daughter Melanie (second photo below, to the right of Charlotte Casiraghi) wore a floppy black variation of a cloche.

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National Day in Monaco is always a family affair. It’s lovely to see the little ones passed among their relatives. Note the sweet pink and red hair bows on Princess Gabriella and India Casiraghi.

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That wraps up coverage of the festivities in Monaco today. I suspect there will be some strong responses to many of these hats and can’t wait to hear what you all think. 
Photos from Getty as indicated

Royal Wedding in Monaco

Royal Hats The civil wedding ceremony of Pierre Caisraghi and longtime girlfriend Beatrice Borromeo took place on Saturday in Monaco. For the event, which was followed by an informal picnic for 700 guests hosted by Prince Albert and Princess Charlene in the Palace gardens, Beatrice wore a dusty pink v-necked, empire waisted gown by Valentino. The bodice of the dress was covered in gold lace which was also used to make mid length, floaty sleeves and trim the bottom of the skirt. Beatrice completed the look with a small headband of fresh flowers.

Pierre Casiraghi and Beatrice Borromeo, July 27, 2015 | Royal Hats

Pierre Casiraghi and Beatrice Borromeo, July 27, 2015 | Royal Hats

While an outdoor wedding with picnic is the perfect wedding to wear a hat, the only member of Pierre’s family to do so was his sister Charlotte. She topped her orange printed dress with a simple white straw picture hat trimmed with a wide sash around the base of the brim which trailed off the back of the hat.

Charlotte Casiraghi, July 25, 2015 | Royal Hats  Charlotte Casiraghi, July 25, 2015 | Royal Hats

For the formal dinner hosted by Princess Caroline Saturday evening at the Hotel de Paris, Beatrice wore a second Valentino design in luminescent grey and white silk organza (see her arrival on video here). The sparkling clouds hand embroidered and beaded on the skirt made for a rather dreamy ensemble that on any other day, would have likely been a twinge just too literal.

Pierre Casiraghi and Beatrice Borromeo, July 27, 2015 | Royal Hats

The happy couple will celebrate their religious wedding on August 1 on one of the Borromean Islands on Lake Maggiore in the bride’s native Italy (when one’s family owns some islands, it is a logical place to have a wedding). After these two Valentino couture pieces for her civil nuptials, I can only imagine Beatrice’s next dress will be spectacular.

Photos from Valentino; Valentino via VogueGigi Iorio/Splash News and Gigi Iorio/Splash News via Corbis; and Xposure via Vogue

This Week’s Extras

Royal Hats

Infanta Elena at the procession of Cristo de los Alabardos last weekend (Royalista)

Members of Monaco’s Royal Family remembered Prince Rainier, who passed away 10 years ago this week (Paris Match)

Queen Sonja wore  wore a beret hat with grommets earlier this week  to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the ‘Scandinavian Star’ tragedy (Paris Match)

Princess Eugenie out and about in New York (The Daily Mail)

Royal Hats

Wonderful photos from the exhibition of Queen Margrethe’s dresses (Glittering Royal Events Message Board) and a gallery of the Danish Royals’ formal finery at Wednesday’s gala concert in Aarhus (Getty)

The Spanish King and Queen with their daughters on Easter Sunday last weekend (Blog Real)

Two drawings done by King George V and his younger sister Princess Victoria when they were children recently went up for sale (Paul Fraser Collectibles)

This Week’s Extras

Royal Hats

Rare glimpse into the close relationship between a Queen and her milliner (The Daily Mail)

Prince Philip looked so very distinguished in uniform at RAF Norfolk this week (The Daily Mail)

King Carl Gustaf wore a dashing fedora hat on the final day of the state visit to Finland (Svenskdam)

Charlotte Casiraghi left LAX in a floppy black Garbo hat (Svenskdam)

Royal Hats

Great lecture by Canadian royal historian Carolyn Harris on King John and the making of the Magna Carta

The Countess of Wessex and the Mexican First Lady visited the set of Downton Abbey (British Monarchy Twitter)

Amazing royal discovery uncovered during a cottage renovation (The Telegraph)

Prince William met Shaun the Sheep in China (New China TV). Unfortunately, his successful Asian visit hit a blip on the last day (Independent)

I love it when royals are friends. The Swedish and Norwegian young royals enjoying dinner together (DT.se)