On Thursday, the Luxembourg grand ducal family celebrated their country’s national holiday. Hereditary Grand Duchess Stéphanie repeated a fuchsia sinamay rolled edge headpiece studded with white silk flowers (she wore it to this same event in 2014) while Princess Alexandra repeated an ecru embellished flapper style headpiece with acid green silk flower on the side.
On Friday, Queen Margrethe presented the “Queen’s Clock” military award and on Saturday, she opened a museum about flight in Oksboel. She repeated pink hats for these events.
Wishing Empress Michiko a happy 87th birthday today with a look back at one of her hats. This layered turban was worn to the Tokyo Olympics on October 21, 1964 speaks very much to the fashion of the times (the layers are a lovely touch). And of course, a nod must be given to the most darling cap on young Prince Naruhito!
I’m so pleased to welcome back longtime reader, hat aficionado (follow him on Instagram or Twitter) and friend of Royal Hats, Jake Short, for the fourth post in a 5-part series on the history and hats of the Ethiopian Imperial Family (see Part 3 here).
Haile Selassie visited the Netherlands in 1954 and was photographed holding a plumed ceremonial military hat while Queen Juliana wore a calot with swooping feather trim.
During this visit, these wonderful photos were captured with the Emperor in his military cap and Queen Juliana in turbans- one covered in pleated ruffles and the other, smooth.
King Paul and Queen Frederika of Greece visited Addis Ababa in 1959. Here they are seen with the Emperor and Empress, all wearing hats suited to their rank and typical for that time.
Again in his military cap, Haile Selassie is seen with other royals at a ceremony in Iran in 1971 to celebrate 2,500 years of the Persian Empire; Queen Fabiola and King Baudouin of Belgium (with Princess Anne of the UK behind them), Queen Ingrid and King Frederik of Denmark, Queen Anne-Marie of Greece (behind Emperor Haile Selassie), and Shah Reza Pahlavi and Shahbanou Farah Diba of Iran can be seen wearing hats (many more royals were also in attendance at this grand event).
Relations with the Japanese Imperial Family, another reigning imperial family, were cordial and saw multiple visits. Haile Selassie visited Japan in 1956 with his eldest daughter Princess Tenagnework (seated, wearing a veiled calot), her daughter Princess Aida Desta (wearing a feathered casque hat), and Prince Makonnen, Duke of Harar. Crown Prince Asfaw Wossen and Crown Princess Medferiashwork visited Japan in 1959; while neither wore hats during a duck hunting session, their hosts Crown Prince Akihito and Crown Princess Michiko did. Crown Princess Medferiashwork was seen during this same visit in a toque-like hat during a visit to a department store.
Crown Prince Akihito and Crown Princess Michiko visited Ethiopia in 1960, with Akihito (carrying a top hat) being formally received by Emperor Haile Selassie at the airport. Crown Princess Medferiashwork wore a calot while she and Michiko visited a girls’ school; Medferiashwork was later seen in a headscarf when she accompanied Michiko and Akihito (both in hats) on a visit to Mt. Entoto just north of Addis Ababa.
Finally, there were multiple interactions with the British Royal Family. A 1954 state visit to the UK by the Emperor and his son the Duke of Harar began at Victoria Station, where Queen Elizabeth II greeted Haile Selassie, who wore a ceremonial military hat trimmed with lion’s mane!
The Queen Mother, Princess Margaret, Princess Mary, and Princess Alice, the Duchess of Gloucester, who all wore calots typical of the mid-1950s.
A 1965 visit to Ethiopia by the Queen and Prince Philip saw only military hats from the host royals (the Empress had died in 1962, and there is a lack of photos of other female royals to determine their level of participation in the visit).
Another informative post, Jake- thank you! The Ethiopian princesses’ calots and half hats during the Japanese visit (and reciprocal visit five years later) are beautiful examples of fashion of the time! It’s also a fascinating reminder how millinery styles changed (inflated!) from the 1950s to the 1960s! How well did Queen Juliana’s cream turban pair with her 1960s sunglasses?! Such a fun look!
Jake returns next week for the final post in this series.
to this day in 2006, 15 years ago, when the former Empress of Japan arrived for a state visit to Thailand in a large white saucer hat trimmed with the loveliest deep peacock blue silk flowers.
We wrap up Jake Short’s fascinating series on Hawaiian royal hats with a fifth and final installment today. Jake is a longtime Royal Hats reader and contributor and a very stylish hat wearer who you can follow on Instagram or Twitter. If you’ve missed his previous posts, link to all of them at the bottom. Immeasurable thanks, Jake for this fantastic series!
Claims To The Throne
Who is considered the heir to the Hawaiian throne nowadays is contested. Some consider Quentin Kūhiō Kawānanakoa, grandson of Abigail Kapi‘olani Kawānanakoa, to be the heir as his is directly descended from Prince David Kawānanakoa through primogeniture.
Abigail Kekau is the daughter of Lydia Lili‘uokalani Kawānanakoa pictured below, who was the younger sister of Abigail Kapi‘olani. Abigail Kekau was hānai adopted in 1932 by her grandmother Princess Abigail Campbell Kawānanakoa with the idea she would be direct heir, hence why it is argued she is the correct heir.
If Abigail Kekau was to succeed to a restored Hawaiian throne, she would be the world’s second-oldest monarch (Queen Elizabeth II is only two days older) and also the first openly lesbian queen. Abigail Kekau also served as president of the Friends of ‘Iolani Palace organization for almost 30 years.
Outside of the Kawānanakoa claims, Owana Ka‘ōhelelani Salazar asserts she is the true heir to the throne due to her family lineage and connections to the Royal School created by Kamehameha III in 1848. Before her death in 1988, Princess Helena Kalokuokamaile Wilcox named her daughter Owana and Owana’s son Noa as her direct heirs. Neither Abigail Kekau nor Quentin Kawānanakoa seem very interested in pursuing monarchical restoration; in contrast, Owana does so intentionally by interacting with other deposed royal houses from around the world, and bringing back the Hawaiian royal orders (although thus far not wearing royal hats, or at least not any I could find).
Japanese Imperials In Hawai‘i
Remember there was the possibility of a Hawaiian princess marrying into the Japanese Imperial Family? Despite never happening, there have been many Japanese immigrants to Hawai‘i in the last two centuries, and there is still a strong bond with Japan. As such, members of the current Japanese Imperial Family have visited Hawai‘i on several official occasions, often wearing hats.
On his way to attend the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953, then-Crown Prince Akihito visited Hawai‘i wearing a smart fur felt fedora. 1960 saw a visit from Nobuhito, Prince Takamatsu, and Kikuko, Princess Takamatsu (uncle and aunt of Akihito); Nobuhito carried a fur felt fedora, while Kikuko arrived in a polka dot cloche with simple sashed hatband.
Later that day and the next, she wore a pair of her signature pillbox percher hats. Both in ivory, the first was a shorter version covered in ivory silk flowers and avocado silk leaves. The taller design, worn June 24, 1994, was trimmed in an ivory and black bow to match her suit.
The following day, June 25, 1994 saw two hats on the Empress: first a pale blue small disc hat with a large rose trim, and then a very wide disc hat with a rose and leaves trim on the front when they departed.
A final visit in 2009 saw another wide disc hat trimmed with a large navy blue silk bow, along with one of my favorite all-time hats for Michiko: this wider disc hat with flowers and leaves that coordinates perfectly with her raspberry and black outfit.
During a 2018 visit to Honolulu with Prince Akishino, Princess Kiko wore a simple and sophisticated navy blue straw hat and the couple were photographed in Hawaiian leis.
With the overthrow of the monarchy, the once strong connections with British royal family all but vanished (Hawai‘i’s flag does include the Union Jack due to these historical ties). But Hawai‘i has seen a few visits from the British royals since it became a U.S. state. On 27 March 1963, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip were greeted by then-Governor John Burns; the Queen wore a smaller Breton-style hat during this visit
It remains a sad part of history the Kingdom of Hawai‘i is no longer with us today for many reasons, including for us at Royal Hats not having more possible hats to admire. With decades of close relations with the British, one can only imagine what those may have looked like today; would Hawai‘i be part of the Commonwealth today? Or what if deeper connections with the Japanese Imperial Family had been pursued further? (This is especially interesting when you consider how a continuing independent Hawai‘i or a Hawai‘i as head of a Polynesian federation would’ve changed the course of history, including WWII.)
While the number of hats sported by Hawaiian royals was not vast, it is much more numerous than one might expect, and that’s of course only what was photographed at the time. As a final additional side note, the Daughters of Hawai‘i, a group dedication to the historic preservation of Hawaiian royal palaces, have been seen many times wearing all-white ensembles, including white portrait hats.
I have not visited Hawai‘i yet, but I hope to one day get there and see places of historical importance like the ‘Iolani Palace. Have you been to Hawai‘i? Were you aware of all this history? I hope you’ve enjoyed this unique look at the Royal Hats of Hawai‘i as much as I did discovering them.
Thank you Jake, for all of the research and thought put into this series. It has been insightful, engaging and educational. I have one thing to add- a photo I took in 2017 at The Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, designated the Hawaiʻi State Museum of Natural and Cultural History, in Honolulu. These hats were from the Hawaiian Royal Collection- I’m afraid, at the time, I was more intrigued by the beautiful and intricate woven pattern than I was at who had worn them. If anyone has further information they can share, please do!
Stay tuned later this summer for another series from Jake! His previous guest posts at Royal Hats include:
Wishing Empress Michiko a happy 87th birthday today with a look back at one of her hats. This layered turban was worn to the Tokyo Olympics on October 21, 1964 speaks very much to the fashion of the times (the layers are a lovely touch). And of course, a nod must be given to the most darling cap on young Prince Naruhito!
to this day in 2006, 15 years ago, when the former Empress of Japan arrived for a state visit to Thailand in a large white saucer hat trimmed with the loveliest deep peacock blue silk flowers.
Royal Hats 
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