We continue our look back at King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima’s wedding 17 years ago this month with a look at the hats worn by royal families from Belgium and Luxembourg.
Queen Paola topped her lilac wool suit with a matching felt hat with upturned brim by Fabienne Delvigne. The brim features a waved, pleat on the upswept side with gentle point which gives lovely movement to the piece. The ensemble was a lot of lilac but Paola’s ruffled blouse broke up the look with some textural contrast.
Crown Princess Mathilde wore a dark chocolate faux fur papakha style hat. It’s a very wintry look that contrasted well against her red suit and the matching cuffs on her jacket added a harmonious and wonderfully luxe touch.
Princess Astrid wore one of the most bizarre royal hats I have ever seen. The natural straw hat with flat crown and short cartwheel brim was trimmed with vertically placed pheasant feathers around the back and…. another straw hat, in a slightly darker shade, placed on the side. This was a first- trimming a hat with another hat- that thankfully, has not been repeated. The milliner, Christophe Coppens, is now an avant garde artist/designer and while this hat gets marks for creativity, I can’t describe it as anything but utterly ridiculous.
Prince Laurent, who was not yet married, attended in uniform complete with cap, and is photographed below with a very young looking Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume of Luxembourg.
Grand Duchess Josephine of Luxembourg (who passed away in 2005) wore wore a fur-brimmed bumper hat with domed crown covered in the same stylised silver animal print as her jacket. The brown fur and silver/slate blue combination always perplexed me a bit – don’t you think this design would have been improved with silvery grey sable brim instead?!
Hereditary Grand Duchess Maria Teresa topped her gold brocade suit with a dramatic chocolate fur Cossack style hat and matching scarf. Yes, the hat is a bit too large for petite Maria Teresa but the look read very ‘Russian Imperial court’ (in a good way!) and I always loved how it coordinated so well with Grand Duke Henri’s uniform. Planning one’s look to match with one’s husband’s orange order- now that’s romantically dedicated dressing!
Princess Sibilla also wore a gold suit and chocolate hat, although the effect was completely different! Sibilla’s hat follows a more demure shape with rounded crown, mushroom brim and chocolate velvet hatband, tied in a droopy side bow. It’s precisely what one might have expected from a royal hat two decades ago… but I’m afraid my current eyes are left wanting a bit more (and are drawn back to Maria Teresa’s more dramatic look).
Hereditary Princess Sophie of Liechtenstein is also included on this event’s guest list but I have been unable to find photos of her. This omission aside, there are some great looks here, aren’t there?! I’m also looking forward to your thoughts about Princess Astrid’s hat- do you find it as silly, 17 years on, as I still do?!
Stay tuned tomorrow for the final look at royal guests from Spain, Greece, Great Britain and Monaco .
Photos from Getty as indicated
to 2002 and our final duet of foreign royals that joined in Ascot fun that year. The late Grand Duchess Josephine wore a classic ecru straw hat with a beautifully curved brim, trimmed simply with a silk organza hatband and side rosette (and I can’t omit mentioning Princess Anne’s ice blue straw hat with mushroom brim and ruched straw crown wrap). Grand Duchess Maria Teresa topped her blue suit with a matching straw hat with wide, upturned brim trimmed with a wide hatband and large flower. Unfortunately, Maria Teresa’s hat was a touch large for her, leaving it to sit unusually (and unflatteringly) low on her forehead.
