After a two year pandemic hiatus, Buckingham Palace garden parties resumed this week! The first one, on Wednesday, was hosted by the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall and attended by Princess Anne who all braved less than ideal weather.
At first glance, I thought the Duchess of Cornwall had finally granted your wishes and repeated the much admired blue hat worn to this same event back in 2015. A closer look below (new hat on the left, 2015 hat on the right) confirms these hats are a slightly different colour with different brim finishes and trimming:
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The hat making its debut this week follows the same shape with wide bias brim that grandly sweeps up over the design’s rounded crown. An extra wide stripe binding the brim accentuates its shape as does the streamlined trim- just a hatband that crosses over in an X on the back of the brim. The hat and embroidered coat are clearly custom designed to compliment each other, which they do. Yes, we’ve seen this shape many times on Camilla but it clearly works for her and the colour is magnificent.
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Designer: Philip Treacy
Previously Worn: This hat is new
Prince Charles repeated his antique black silk top hat.
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Princess Anne repeated her muted teal sinamay hat with rounded crown and high, sidesweeping brim embellished with a darker teal slim silk hatband and curling, multi-looped straw bow interspersed with trimmed feathers. If it doesn’t look familiar, don’t worry- Anne’s dark green umbrella casted a grassy- hue over it! This time out, she paired it with a patterned red coat instead of the matching muted teal one we’ve always seen with it in the past.
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Designer: Amy Morris-Adams
Previously Worn: This hat is new
On Thursday, Princess Anne and Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence hosted the annual Garden Party for The Not Forgotten charity, of which the Princess Royal is patron.
For the event, she wore a new lilac sinamay hat with brim slightly raised around the back. The hat is trimmed with a ruched lavender silk hatband. The colour is pretty, as is the scale. The hatband falls short for me and I wish we could see the hat’s trim around the back. I suspect this is a ready-to-wear produced piece, as it lacks the finesse of Anne’s other handmade hats, such as the one above.
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How wonderful is it to see garden party hats again?! What do you think of this quartet of hats worn this week?
Images from Getty as indicated