Tag Archives: Grand Duchess Maria Teresa

Greek Royal Wedding 20 Years On: Royal Guests

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The wedding of a crown prince of any nation is usually cause for a major royal celebration. While Crown Prince Pavlos of Greece, Prince of Denmark did not marry in either of the nations where he holds princely title, his wedding to Marie-Chantal Miller on July 1, 1995 was a grand event nonetheless.

Along with the queens on the groom’s side of the family (Queen Anne-Marie, Queen Margrethe and Queen Sofia), Queen Elizabeth, Queen Silvia of Sweden, Queen Noor of Jordan and Grand Duchess Josephine of Luxembourg all attended this event. Queen Elizabeth wore a very pretty lavender hat with pleated straw crown while Queen Silvia wore a pink picture hat with white pleated crin brim. Grand Duchess Josephine topped her graphic black and white striped suit with a white straw hat with gently curved brim.

Queen Noor wore a white straw hat in the shape of an oversize cloche. The bell brim was further enlarged by a huge bow at the back of the hat. Of all the hats worn at this wedding, I think think this one is most ‘stuck’ in the millinery fashion of the time.Queen Noor, July 1, 1995 | Royal HatsPrincess Maria Teresa, Hereditary Grand Duchess of Luxembourg (as she was known then) wore a beige silk headband with bow at the side while Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden, who was still a teenager, wore a large white hat with squared crown and wide upturned stripe of black straw around the brim.
Hereditary Grand Duchess Maria Teresa, July 1, 1995 | Royal Hats Crown Princess Victoria, July 1, 1995 | Royal Hats
Princess Alexandra of Kent wore a  pale green hat with tall crown trimmed with a mass of green feathers around the base of the crown. It is a style of hat we see on Alexandra still today and one that is just so quintessentially her. tThe Duchess of Marlborough topped her sky blue suit and lacy blouse with a white hat wrapped in pleated swaths of organdie. I believe Princess Michael of Kent was also in attendance although I have been unable to locate a photo of her hat.
Princess Alexandra of Kent, July 1, 1995 | Royal Hats  Duchess of Marlborough, July 1, 1995 | Royal Hats
Empress Farah of Iran and her daughter-in-law Princess Yasmin, both wore hats trimmed with large bows. While Farah’s hat had a square crown and larger crown than Yasmine’s hat, which had a smaller cartwheel shaped brim, I think both hats are perfect examples of 1990s millinery fashion.
Empress Farah and Princess Yasmine, July 1, 1995 | Royal Hats
Princess Marina of Savoy (now Princess of Naples) memorably wore a large navy picture hat trimmed with a wide swath of coordinating feathers. The hat on its own is a bold look but paired with her feather hemmed dress, is almost beyond description. In comparison, the Duchess of Bragança, who had married the Duke earlier in 1995, was more conservatively dressed in a pistachio green suit and matching floral trimmed hat.
Princess Marina of Savoy, July 1, 1995 | Royal Hats Duchess of Bragança, July 1, 1995 | Royal Hats
Queen Margarita of Bulgaria wore an interesting domed hat in natural straw trimmed by a slim burgundy ruffle near the top of the crown. Her daughter-in-law Carla, the Princess of Panagyurishte, wore a simple cream straw hat.
Queen Marie, July 1, 1995 | Royal Hats 1995-01-07 Pavlos & MC wedding 54
The Princess of Vidin topped a pale blue and brown flowered suit with a chocolate straw hat. The brim on the front of the hat was curled back to the crown, leaving a halo around her face. Rosario, The Princess of Preslav, wore a large straw picture hat. With a beige square crown and white curved brim, edged in a wide beige stripe, the hat coordinated well with Rosario’s beige and white Valentino dress. Princess Kalina, who attended with Prince Laurent of Belgium, wore a characteristically unusual outfit, pairing a floppy natural straw picture hat with an embroidered, slinky bias cut dress.
That concludes our look back at the Greek Royal Wedding! I am most curious to hear your thoughts on the hats worn by these royal guests. And, I’m sure you join me in wishing Crown Prince Pavlos and Princess Marie-Chantal a very happy 20th anniversary.
Greek Royal wedding, July 1, 1995 | Royal Hats
Photos from The Royal Forums and Getty as indicated

Luxembourg National Day

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The Luxembourg royal family celebrated their country’s national holiday yesterday with attendance at a civil ceremony, a military parade and an inter-religious Te Deum at the Luxembourg Cathedral. While hats did not appear at the first two events (except for uniform caps), a quintet of lovely pieces were donned for the Te Deum.

Grand Duchess Maria Teresa used the occasion to début a new ‘slice’ brim picture hat with upfolded brim raised high over one side of the hat’s crown. The dramatically shaped hat was trimmed in bold, wide curling straw ribbons (the same ones we saw adorn numerous hats at Ascot last week) which adorned the underside of the raised brim. Maria Teresa has worn this style of hat in the past- while some argue it gives her some height, I think the shape overwhelms. It’s a beautiful hat and it pairs well with her tan and black embroidered suit but I think a different shape would have been better suited the Grand Duchess.

Designer: Philip Treacy
Previously Worn: This is a new hat

The Hereditary Grand Duchess topped her beautiful yellow dress with a light picture hat. The hat, made of slim strips of crin sewn together to give a striped effect, featured a gently ruffled brim on one side into which a large yellow feather was tucked. I am firmly on the fence with this piece- the stripes give it a dime-store vibe that I just can not shake and the feather is simply awful. It does, however, have a lovely sense of light airiness that works well with Princess Stèphanie’s yellow dress and her beautiful hair and makeup provides the polish and elegance which the hat lacks. I adore that Princess Stèphanie is slowly starting to experiment with her hats and hope this trend continues.

Princess Stèphanie, June 23, 2015 | Royal Hats

Designer: unknown
Previously Worn: This is a new hat

Princess Claire wore a large white picture hat with rolling brim, trimmed simply with a black band around the base of the crown. The hat is a simple but very chic piece that worked very well with her dotted red dress and amazing earrings.

Designer: unknown
Previously Worn: I believe this hat is new

Princess Alexandra topped her pale green lace dress with a 1920s flapper-style headband. While I’m not sure the headband was a great match for her dress, there is something so lighthearted and unexpected about this piece that makes me smile.

Designer: Amelie D’Hooghvorst
Previously Worn: I believe this hat is new

Princess Tessy fast-forwarded two decades from her sister-in-law, bringing a 1940s fashion vibe into her look today. Her headpiece, a high curling base of gossamer grey straw trimmed with feathers, worked beautifully with her navy dress and waved hairstyle and perfect red lip (has ever a red lip set off a hat so well?). The modern headpiece is an unexpected choice to round out a vintage look but Tessy looked stunning in it.

Designer: unknown
Previously Worn: I believe this hat is new

It is always lovely to see the entire family together at this event- which one of these hats stood out most to you?

Photo from Getty as indicated and Jean-Claude Ernst via Tageblatt

Bicentenary of the Battle of Waterloo

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European royals gathered in Waterloo, Belgium yesterday to participate in a ceremony hosted by the Belgian government to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo. The 1815 battle, which saw the overthrow of Napoleon Bonaparte and the restoration of Louis XVIII to the French throne, is being celebrated during three days of grand scale re-enactments which include more than 5000 historical re-enactors from around the world. The Belgian, Dutch and Luxembourg monarchs were on hand yesterday for the first event.

Embed from Getty Images

As hostess for this ceremony, Queen Mathilde stood out in a natural straw hat with large, flat crown and wide mushroom brim. The considerable scale of the piece was lovely on Mathilde and gave some neutral grounding to her vibrant goldenrod dress and jacket. We haven’t seen this piece worn since 2004 and it was lovely to see it again.

Embed from Getty Images

Designer: Fabienne Delvigne
Previously Worn: June 26, 2004

Queen Máxima repeated her silver grey silk ringed headpiece with new grey and blue lace dress. In the past I have been rather critical of these open-topped headpieces and while I’m still not in love with this one (and retain quibbles about the puckered seams), I appreciate it much more. The open top gives this piece a lightness needed for a summer hat and places the focus on  Máxima’s face.  This is the third outfit we have seen Máxima pair with this headpiece (we’ll look at those in greater detail in a few weeks) and is, so far, my favourite.

Embed from Getty Images

Designer: Fabienne Delvigne
Previously Worn: April 4, 2014; November 24, 2013; Oct. 20, 2007

The Grand Duchess of Luxembourg topped her oyster-grey suit with a domed pillbox hat made of the same fabric. We have seen Maria Teresa in numerous pillbox hats over the past year and the shape suits her well. The ensemble is a little bland for my taste, however, and I would have loved even a subtle bit of colour to liven it.

Embed from Getty Images

Designer: Fabienne Delvigne
Previously Worn: This hat is new

The Marchioness of Douro (née Jemma Kidd), who is the Duke of Wellington’s daughter-in-law, wore a Philip Treacy percher hat in cream, trimmed with a signature Treacy twist.

Embed from Getty Images

It always seems that the European royals are delighted to get together and this event was no different. What did you think of the royal hats seen yesterday in Belgium?

Embed from Getty Images

Photos from Getty as indicated

This Week’s Extras

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Royal Hats

Grand Duchess Maria Teresa of Luxembourg in a simple navy pillbox for the 70th Anniversary of the end of WWII last weekend (Cour Grand Ducal de Luxembourg)

On Tuesday, members of the British Royal Family attended a memorial for the late Duke of Wellington (Daily Mail)

Princess Anne held a reception to acknowledge some hard working teens (Bucks Press)

Princess Alexandra of Kent opened a retirement village in Hampshire (The British Monarchy)

Lovely coverage on Prince Sébastien of Luxembourg’s university graduation (Luxarazzi). You can also see a photo of Grand Duke Henri and Prince Sébastien here

Some young British royal cousins having great fun at the Windsor Horse Show (Daily Mail)

Infanta Elena in one of her chic fedoras for a book release in Lorca (Hola)

Royal Hats

Great interview with Prince Harry last weekend in New Zealand (Sky News). Early this week, he participated in a traditional Maori Haka at the Linton Military base (New Zealand Herald)

Luxembourg Royals Join Octave Procession

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Members of the Luxembourg Royal family took part yesterday in the closing procession of the Octave of Our Lady of Luxembourg, a national religious celebration that occurs every year several weeks after Easter. Grand Duchess Maria Teresa used the occasion to début a new pillbox hat in dove grey felt. Maria Teresa wears pillboxes well (her hairstyle is particularly well suited to them) and while she often favours ensembles in brighter colours, I liked this more streamlined combination of hat and silver brocade coat on her.

Grand Duchess Maria Teresa, May 10, 2015 | Royal Hats

Grand Duchess Maria Teresa, May 10, 2015 | Royal Hats Designer: unknown
Previously Worn: I believe this hat is new

Princess Claire topped her raspberry red dress and jacket with a black percher cocktail hat trimmed with several feather pompoms. The black hat tied well with Claire’s other black accessories and added a touch of whimsy to her ensemble but its placement was off- instead of perching over an eyebrow on the side of the head as a percher should, Claire wore this hat just off the center of her forehead. Move it down a bit and I think we’d have a winner.

Princess Claire, May 10, 2015 | Royal Hats

Prince Felix and Princess Claire brought their daughter, Princess Amalia, out for the royal family’s balcony appearance. The wee princess sported a tiny pink hair bow along with her quizzical expression. Adorable.

Princess Claire, May 10, 2015 | Royal Hats

Designer: unknown
Previously Worn: I believe this hat is new

Princess Tessy repeated the lovely grey and navy saucer hat she wore for this event last year. The grey hat, trimmed with navy piping and large looped straw bows, is a great shape and scale on Tessy and she wears it well. I’m just not sure its pairing with her blousy grey jacket was a good idea. Her sleek navy lace dress last year showed this hat so beautifully and the proportion of this ensemble seems painfully off in comparison.

Princess Tessy, May 10, 2015 | Royal Hats Princess Tessy, May 10, 2015 | Royal Hats

Designer: I suspect it is House of Fraser
Previously Worn: May 26, 2014

While several members of the family were not in attendance for the Octave procession (the Hereditary Grand Duke and Duchess were away attending WWII commemoration events across Europe), it looks like an enjoyable time was had by those who took part. What did you think of this trio of royal hats in Luxembourg?

Luxembourg Royal Family, May 10, 2015 | Royal Hats

Luxembourg Royal Family, May 10, 2015 | Royal Hats

Photos from Chris Karaba, Lucien Koneczny, Lucien Koneczny, René Scho, René Scho, René Scho, Chris Karaba and Chris Karaba via RTL and Wort