Imperial Royal Wedding: Guests

Guests at today’s wedding of Grand Duke George Mikhailovich of Russia and Rebecca Bettarini included several from royal houses, beginning with the groom’s immediate family.

George’s mother, Grand Duchess Mariya Vladimirovna Romanova, wore a pleated blue silk Kokoshnik headpiece with brown sable trim. The headpiece has layered blue silk bows around the back.

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The Grand Duchess’ sister, Helene Kirby, Countess Dvinskaya, wore a hat in the same orange boucle as her suit with a wide brown fur bumper brim.

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The bride’s mother, Carla Virginia Cacciatore, topped her blue and green ruffle collared suit with in a brown hat. The hat features freeform sinamay ruffles atop a shallow pillbox base.

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Crown Princess Elia of Albania wore the loveliest pale gray-green beret percher trimmed with green silk flowers, leaves and a net veil.

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Princess Isabelle of Liechtenstein wore a black velvet pyramid hat with wide faux fur cuffed brim.

Princess Lea of Belgium wore a brown fur Cossack style hat.
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The Duchess of Braganza wore a deep eggplant veiled pillbox placed on the back of her head.

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Princess Marie-Marguerite, Duchess of Anjou, wore a statement oversize saucer in peachy-tan sinamay with steep sidesweep. The hat is trimmed with feathers studded in raw-edge crin and sinamay ruffles en masse beneath the brim on its raised side.

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What do you think of the hats that stepped out today in St. Petersburg for this event?

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Images from Getty and social media as indicated  

Monaco Royal Wedding: Guests from Non-Reigning Royal Houses

We wrap up our week-long look at the hats worn to Prince Albert and Princess Charlene’s religious wedding on July 2, 2011 with those worn by guests from non-reigning royal houses.

Empress Farah wore a pleated turban in the same lime green silk as her jacket and dress that tied at the back in a bow. It was a very coordinated look with subtle contrast provided by the use of both matte and shiny sides of the fabric twisted together and narrow fringe on the bottom of the back bow’s tie.

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Princess Marina of Savoy wore a picture hat in layered navy and black straw, sharply raised on one side and simply trimmed with a slim black straw hatband. The layered straw gives an interesting effect, merging the two colours surprisingly well, especially with the top layer of the straw brim cut shorter than the bottom navy layer to give some lightness to the design around the outer brim’s edge. On its own the hat was great. It’s the pairing with this feather-hemmed, bedazzled, cocktail-all-the-way dress that gives me issue. It’s a dress that simply doesn’t suit a hat.

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Marina’s daughter-in-law, Princess Clotilde, paired her ruffle trimmed scarlet dress with an oversize flower headpiece in black silk. While the black accessories work with the dress, I’d have preferred a sleeker percher hat to provide a more streamlined counterpoint for the statement dress.

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Princess Camilla of Bourbon-Two Sicilies is well known for her dramatic sartorial choices and attended this event in the ultimate (most literal? cheesiest?) symbol of love. Her large heart-shaped hat was covered in the same pink silk as her outfit, emphasized with the same magenta handpainted ombre effect as on the collar of her jacket. Well known to be one of Prince Albert’s closest friends, I always wondered if Camilla’s pink statement of love was directed at the unfortunate rumours that plagued the run up to this event… or if this was always her plan. My guess is the latter. Either way, it was quite a hat.

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Maria Margarita de Bourbon, Duchess of Anjou, paired her beautifully embellished grey dress with a statement hat in slightly lighter grey straw. The design was lavishly trimmed with grey silk oversize roses and crystal studded cut feathers placed below the brim of the saucer’s raised side.

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Princess Micaëla of Orleans wore a warm tan-hued raffia sun hat with wide, pleated brim from the Madagascar Hat Company. A twisted sash hatband in the same magenta silk as her skirt was added to the hat, presumably to link the ensemble together.

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The Duchess of Bragança paired her pale blue silk suit with a simple ecru straw hat with flat crown and upturned kettle brim.

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Crown Princess Margarita of Romania was a sunny vision in yellow with wide brimmed hat. The design, by Romanian milliner Kristina Dragomir, featured a shallow, flat crown and gently downcurved brim and was trimmed with a yellow silk hatband and swath of dotted veil wrapped around the crown and tied in a bow across the back. I’m not always a fan of one-colour looks but this shade of yellow is so happy and well suited to Margarita (and successfully grounded by the cream accessories and pearl jewellery) that I can’t help but like it.

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Crown Princess Katherine of Serbia paired her ice blue silk beaded dress and jacket with a feminine headpiece of large white and blue ombre flower petal ruffles trimmed with loops of blue tube crin. I can see how the headpiece linked with her ensemble and I love the unconventional design but I think a less fussy piece (anything that didn’t look like layered cabbage leaves) would have been a better option.

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Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna of Russia wore a tall, peaked Kokoshnik-style headpiece in the same floral silk as her dress. Maria’s committment to this traditional Russian millinery shape is admirable (she has worn the shape many times over the years) but this particularly combination of headpiece and dress (with those drapery-esque sleeves) was a LOT of look.

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Princess Sophie of Isenburg, who would marry Prince Georg Friedrich of Prussia a month later, paired her colorful couture dress and jacket with an equally vibrant headpiece. Built on a pale beigey-pink silk abaca bandeau with swishy curving edge, the headpiece was trimmed with a birdcage veil, an over-arc of black burnt feathers and a trio of blue, caramel and pink flower feathers on the side. There are countless reasons not to like the headpiece with the ensemble that I continue to ignore, simply because it was of the few ensembles at this event that felt free and fun.

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Stephanie, Hereditary Princess of Baden, wore a giant ivory silk chiffon rose headpiece with petal edges tinged in pink. I love a millinery statement but this this one was dulled by her ‘whole lot of biscuit’ ensemble. Princess Ursula of Bavaria, on the other hand, played up her black straw bow headpiece with feathers, pairing it with a black and white suit. The feather work on this headpiece is worth a second look- a fantastic dahlia flower of black and white striped goose biot feathers with a red center was surrounded by dotted pheasant feathers with a firework display of black coque feathers shooting around the top and side.  Yes, it’s dated now but I still love its bold design and scale.

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Princess Virginia von Fürstenberg, who had been a longtime friend and companion to the widowed Prince Rainier, topped her navy silk dress and scarf and lace jacket with a shiny straw cloche hat in the same colour. The design was simply trimmed with a navy hatband and wide binding around the extended brim.

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That wraps up our look at the Monaco royal wedding nine years ago, and the 44 royal hats and headpieces that attended its multi-day celebration. Which hats in this last group stand out to you most? Which overall royal hat at this event was your favourite?

Jump to this post for an index of other royal hats that appeared at this wedding. 

Photos from Getty as indicated 

Austro-French Royal Wedding Part 2

The wedding of Prince Jean Christophe Napoléon and Countess Olympia von Arco-Zinneberg on Saturday saw many royal faces with numerous extended family members and guests in Paris to celebrate with the couple.

The bride’s mother, Maria Beatrice of Arco-Zinneberg, was born an Archduchess of Austria-Este, the elder sister of Prince Lorenz of Belgium (Archduke of Austria-Este before gaining the title of prince when he married Princess Astrid). As uncle and aunt of the bride, they were in attendance, Princess Astrid in a brimless hat of spiky dark green feathers. Their daughter, Princess Maria Laura, who acted as a witness for her cousin, wore a sparkling bandeau headpiece. Princesses Luisa Maria, Laetitia Maria and Elisabetta (Amadeo’s wife) were also on the guest list but so far, elude photos.

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Archdukes Rudolph, Carl Christian and Simeon of Austria are also Habsburg relatives of the bride through her mother. Archduke Rudoplph’s wife, Archduchess Marie-Helene wore a white saucer trimmed with veil and a figure-8 bow in the same raspberry pink stripe as her silk coat. Archduchess Marie-Astrid topped her royal blue and gold dress with a navy straw saucer based cocktail hat trimmed with a multi-looped silk abaca bow and a swath of dotted navy tulle.

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Archduke Simeon’s wife, Archduchess Maria (née Princess Maria of Bourbon-Two Sicilies) wore a navy straw brimmed hat with voluminous straw overlay on the brim that wrapped around the design as a draped scarf of sorts. They are pictured here with Princess Margaretha and Prince Nikolaus of Liechtenstein;  Margaretha topped her orange suit in a repeated russet brown straw hat with mushroom brim, trimmed on the side with a straw bow and pouf of dotted tulle.

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Princess Margaretha and Prince Nikolaus’ elder daughter, Princess Maria Anunciata, wore a high halo bandeau headpiece in brilliant emerald green, lavishly trimmed with silk roses and a ruffle of rough-edged straw studded with tiny beads. Her younger sister wore a deep burgundy velvet bandeau (photo below). Their aunt, Princess Isabelle of Liechtenstein, wore a picture hat in champagne straw with wide mushroom brim. The hat’s sheen is spectacular and the repeated use of the wide brim binding also on the hatband gives great balance to the design.

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Much of Luxembourg’s Nassau royal family members were also in attendance. Princess Stephanié, Hereditary Grand Duchess, repeated a circular wrapped headpiece made from overlapping layers of red banana fibre, trimmed with a multi-looped side bow. Princess Claire wore a classic black bandeau trimmed with faux pearls.

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Countess Diane (wife of Prince Jean), wore a tall slice hat of black crin with crown covered in curling pink and black feathers. Jean’s daughter, Princess Marie-Gabrielle, wore a bandeau headpiece covered in varied shades of dusky pink feathers topped with a pink birdcage veil sprinkled with copper sequins.

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Princess Sibilla repeated a wonderful red hat made by Dillon Wallwork. The design features a squared crown covered in the silk crepe, a sidesweeping windowpane straw brim with wide brim edge also in silk crepe, and a wide grey silk hatband with side bow. Also in a British made hat was Princess Beatrice of York in a Julian Garner design described by the milliner as a boater “made out of a fine parasisel straw and is trimmed with hand cut dyed feathers embellished with Preciosa crystals”

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The Greek royal family was represented by Crown Prince Pavlos, Princess Olympia, Prince Michael and Princess Marina. Princess Olympia wore an angular grey-olive bandeau headpiece while Princess Marina donned a black felt fedora with ribbon hatband and kicky upturned brim on one side.

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The Royal House of Hanover was represented by Prince Christian and Princess Alessandra who wore a dark purple bandeau veiled headpiece. The Olympe design from Spanish brand Mimoki features an overlapping double bandeau wrapped in cotton raffia. The Duchess of Bragança topped her blue silk dress and coat with a navy straw arc headpiece trimmed with feathers.

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Princess Tatiana Radziwill wore a red circle headpiece of silk abaca studded with read beads with flying bow tails at the back. Duchess Sophie of Wurtenberg wore a fascinator of bright pink feathers.

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Princess Maria Pia of Savoy wore a pink and grey floral headpiece set on a circle of gathered net tulle veil.  Princess Edouard De Lobkowicz (née Princess Marie Francoise of Bourbon-Parma) wore wonderful throw-back voluminous pillbox covered in curving mint, grey and peach straw leaves.

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The groom’s maternal aunt, Princess Anne Marie of Bourbon Two Sicilies, wore a braided black picture hat with upswept brim on one side, trimmed with a black organdie multi-looped bow and net veil. Her daughter, Dorothée de Bourbon-Siciles, wore a fascinator of neon pink crin, dotted crin and feathers while her daughter-in-law wore a chic black veiled pillbox with bow on the side. 

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Finally, the groom’s maternal uncle, Prince Charles of Bourbon Two Sicilies, attended with his glamorous wife and daughters. Princess Camilla’s navy blue straw vertical disc hat is lavishly trimmed with different varieties of feathers in navy and black, large loops of navy crin and crystal-studded windowpane crin on the exposed underside of the raised brim.  Princess Maria Carolina, who served as a witness, topped her orchid purple suit with a magenta straw hat. With a sharply curved ‘slice’ shape, the design is trimmed with pink and black feathers on the lower side of the brim. Princess Maria Chiara wore a tan silk abaca draped hat with pleated crescent, net tulle veil and dark blue organza leaves and lighter blue flowers.

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Numerous more royal guests attended the wedding who, I’m afraid, were not caught by photographer’s lenses. Even so, we do have record of 33 hats and headpieces from this event which we are able to admire. This leads me to ask, dearest readers- which ones stand out to you, most?

Photos from Getty as indicated 

Funeral of Grand Duke Jean: Royal Guests

The funeral of Grand Duke Jean of Luxembourg was attended by representatives from nearly every European royal house, many who wore hats. Out of respect for this event and the Grand Duke’s memory, this post contains photos only (no commentary) and is not open for comments.

Monarchs from Denmark, Sweden, Liechtenstein and Norway:

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Spanish, Romanian and Greek Queens:

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Dutch, British and Norwegian Royals:

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Spanish, Italian, Bulgarian and Portuguese Princesses

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Jordanian and Moroccan Royals:

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Marlene Koenig, author of Royal Musings, published a full guest list here. Representatives from numerous abolished, lesser known European monarchies (mostly French, German and Prussian) were in attendance but have not been included here- you can see them at this comprehensive post over at Luxarazzi.

Photos from Getty as indicated 

Belgian Noble Wedding: Royal Guests Part 2

Royal Hats After looking at the bridal couple and their mothers and the Grand Ducal family, we’re going to wrap up our look at last weekend’s wedding of Princess Alix de Ligne and Count Guillaume de Dampierre with a review of the hats worn by some of the remaining royal guests. My sincere thanks to Valentin Dupont, author of Royalement Blog, for generously sharing his photos of the event.

Archduchess Marie-Astrid of Austria wore a small green cocktail hat trimmed with natural straw twists, beige feathers and a net tulle veil. I’m all for royal women trying new millinery shapes but the base of this one is much too small for Marie-Astrid and the placement of it’s embellishment leaves the piece looking like a toy helicopter hovering over her head.

Archduchess Marie Astrid , June 18, 2016 | Royal Hats

Marie Astrid’s eldest daughter, Countess Marie-Christine of Limburg-Stirum, wore a gold headband while her youngest daughter, Archduchess Gabriella of Austria, wore a navy straw hat with ruched silk trim. The navy hat is fine but the gold headband? I’m perplexed.

Countess Marie-Christine de Limburg-Stirum, Archduchess Gabriella and Archduchess Marie Astrid, June 18, 2016 | Royal Hats

Countess Diane of Nassau (wife of Prince Jean of Luxembourg) wore an interesting blue straw hat with upturned brim cut in a unique chevron shape. This unusual brim shape is emphasized by several rows of cream stitching that contrasts nicely with the denim blue hat. While I was originally intrigued by this hat, seeing it on this video shows an entirely different picture- one of a floppy denim hat that looks far more suited for a day in the garden than a wedding. Countess Diane and Prince Jean are photographed below with their friend, Count Jehan de Lannoy (elder brother of Hereditary Grand Duchess Stéphanie. It’s a small world, this world of western European nobility).

Countess Diane of Nassau, June 18, 2016 | Royal Hats

Prince Jean’s daughter, Princess Marie-Gabrielle of Nassau, looked to be wearing a chocolate Garbo style hat with floppy brim that coordinated with the piping on her pink and yellow dress. She was photographed with her cousin, Princess Marie-Astrid of Liechtenstein (daughter of Princess Margaretha of Liechtenstein) who wore a natural straw cloche hat with an embellished hat band.

Princess Marie-Gabrielle of Nassau and Princess Marie-Astrid of Liechtenstein, June 18, 2016 | Royal Hats

Princess Margaretha of Liechtenstein topped her blue and white ensemble with a navy straw headpiece. While these photographs don’t tell for certain, I suspect this headpiece is an open circlet. Her daughter, Princess Anunciata, wore a cream Garbo style hat with floppy brim that looked effortlessly chic with her fuchsia top and trousers. Between the two fuchsia pant suits we saw at these nuptials, this one was by far my favourite!

Princess Margaretha and Princess Anunciata of Liechtenstein, June 18, 2016 | Royal Hats   Princess Margaretha and Princess Anunciata of Liechtenstein, June 18, 2016 | Royal Hats

Princess Sibilla of Luxembourg, wife of Prince Guillaume (Grand Duke Henri’s youngest brother) wore a lime straw hat with raised brim at the back, embellished by straw curls and what looks like pleated hat bands in the same straw. While the style of the hat is intriguing, I’m far less convinced about the colour, both with Princess Sibilla’s colouring but especially, paired with her yellow lace dress. This ensemble begs the question- how much citrus can a royal outfit handle before it turns sour?

Princess Sibilla, June 18, 2016 | Royal Hats

Prince Robert of Nassau (cousin of Grand Duke Henri) was also in attendance with his American born wife, Princess Julie, who wore a melon orange straw hat with sharply raised ‘slice brim’, trimmed with a large straw swirled rose. Their daughter, Princess Charlotte of Nassau, wore a dramatic white percher saucer hat lavishly trimmed in white silk roses.

Princess Julie of Nassau, June 18, 2016 | Royal Hats Princess Charlotte and Princess Julie of Nassau, June 18, 2016 | Royal Hats

The Duchess of Bragança, who attended with her husband and two of her children, wore a natural straw hat with square crown and flat, upfolded brim trimmed with a hat band sash in the same pale green silk as her coat.

Duchess of Bragança, June 18, 2016 | Royal Hats   Duchess of Bragança, June 18, 2016 | Royal Hats

With 900 people in attendance there were numerous other royals and nobles in attendance. Valentin Dupont, author of Royalement Blog, has posted a gallery with 81 pictures of royal and noble guests (with identification!). It’s certainly worth a peek.

That brings our look at this Belgian royal wedding to a close. What hats stood out to you most at this event? Stay tuned this Friday when we see the Grand Ducal family out again (and in hats!) for their country’s National Day.

Photos from Valentin Dupont, author of Royalement Blog and Rex/Shutterstock