Tag Archives: Princess Alexandra of Kent

British Royals Celebrate Women’s Institute Centenary

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100 years of the British Women’s Institute was celebrated by a large garden party at Buckingham Palace yesterday, attended by four female members of the royal family and over 8000 members of the WI .  The Duchess of Cornwall led the quartet of royal hosts in a large cream straw picture hat. This hat, which features an oblique crown and wide, gently upfolded brim, is trimmed with folded bands of wide navy and slimmer cream straw around the brim; a cream multi looped bow and large feather on the side of the hat finish it off. The classic navy and cream scheme give the hat crisp elegance that fit well with Camilla’s dress and tailored coat.

Designer: Philip Treacy
Previously Worn: May 22, 2013; July 11, 2009;  May 8, 2009; June 8, 2007; July 14, 2006; July 20, 2005; and June 28, 2005 

Princess Alexandra repeated a natural straw hat with tall, rounded crown and flat brim. The hat, which has been in circulation since at least the mid 1990s, was trimmed with an array of colourful silk blooms around the base of the crown and a swath of widely woven cream net veil. The hat coordinated perfectly with Alexandra’s Chinoiserie silk jacket and while it borders becoming a 1990s cliché garden party hat, Princess Alexandra’s innate elegance forces me to simply smile at this hat and move on.

Designer: unknown
Previously Worn: June 20, 2012; June 1995

The Countess of Wessex repeated her pale grey mushroom brimmed picture hat trimmed in swirling black feathers and cream curling organdie ribbon. We have seen Sophie in a plethora of beret-based cocktail hats of recent and I adore that she chose a picture hat for this event.

Designer: Jane Taylor. Dress by Emilia Wickstead. 
Previously Worn: May 17, 2014;  August 9, 2013; June 4, 2013

The Duchess of Gloucester looked lovely in pale blue from head to toe. Her hat, a modern take on a cloche shape with squared crown and flared base, was all about shape and texture- texture gained through the use of this unusually woven straw. While there is a distinctly ‘overturned bucket’ vibe about this piece, I love to see mature royals experimenting with creative millinery shapes. With her streamlined blue coat, I think this ensemble is both interesting and very elegant (just different placement on that pair of brooches next time, please!)

Designer: unknown
Previously Worn: May 28, 2015; June 12, 2010; February 4, 2009; June 2, 2007
What did you think of this quartet of British royal hats at yesterday’s all-female event?
Photos from Getty as indicated

This Week’s Extras

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Royal Hats

Princess Alexandra opened the new offices of Sightsavers in a smart cream hat on Thursday (The British Monarchy)

Empress Michiko in one of her go-to grey saucer hats to celebrate a lasting legacy from her wedding (The Imperial Family of Japan)

Crown Prince Haakon participated in a youth construction course and commemorated the 75th anniversary of the joint Allied victory at the Battle of Narvik (Royal House of Norway)

Infanta Elena in her trusty fedora last weekend at a bull fight with her children and father (Diez Minutos)

Princess Beatrice and Beatrice Borromeo at the Getty wedding in Rome today (Daily Mail)

Summer royal hats often include silk blooms. Here is a great peek at the process to make these hand made beauties (John Boyd Hats)

Royal Hats

Crown Princess Mette-Marit opened the Norwegian Festival of Literature. She is taking a hands-on approach to literacy advocacy, setting off on a “Literature Train” tour across the country (Royal House of Norway).

Queen Maxima thoughtfully wore the Canadian national colours in her tiara at a state dinner in Ottawa where she looked stunning (Daily Mail). You can see a great video report on the reasons for Dutch monarch’s visit here at NPO.

Hereditary Grand Duchess Stéphanie of Luxembourg (who is an accomplished violinist) joined Queen Mathilde of Belgium for the final of the 2015 Queen Elizabeth music competition (Cour Grand-Ducale de Luxembourg)

Queen Rania looked amazing for Jordanian Independence Day celebrations (Daily Mail)

Add your tiara predictions for the upcoming Swedish royal wedding over at the Royal Order of Sartorial Splendor.

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)

British Royal Wedding Four Years On: The Kent Family

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A wedding Some of my favourite hats worn at the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s wedding four years ago were worn by the Kent branch of the British extended royal family. Here is a peek back at these hats.

The Duchess of Kent channelled spring in a percher cocktail hat with pale pink base. The centrepiece of the hat was its trim- a large bouquet of silk flowers and leaves, ribbon loops and soft white feathers. We don’t see many percher hats on royal ladies of a certain age and while this one showed that Katharine’s millinery approach has stayed right on trend, the soft colours were very flattering and suited her well.

Lady Helen Taylor (the Duchess of Kent’s daughter)  topped her floral appliquéd Erdem dress and coat with a coordinating embellished beret. In electric blue straw, the beret was trimmed with a side spray of white silk flowers and a tall swath of blue dotted net tulle. I assume the white flowers were added to tie in with the flowers on the dress but they didn’t work for me- the hit of white created a jarring contrast that put the whole outfit into ‘too much’ territory. With a fussy dress and coat, I think Helen would have done better with a less fussy hat.

The Duchess of Kent’s daughter-in-laws wore contrasting pieces in pale hues. The Countess of St. Andrews topped her oyster lace trimmed suit with a large picture hat. In pale beige straw, the hat featured a flat crown and wide mushroom brim. The hat’s only embellishment was a large bow which fanned over one side of the brim (you can see the bow here at 36:30). Lady Nicholas Windsor topped her pale pink suit with a Philip Treacy fascinator of purple orchids and swirling feathers. I thought the styling on Paola’s ensemble was perfect- her clean lined suit, simple jewellery and elegant up-do allowed this statement headpiece to be showed to maximum effect. I adored it on her.

2011-04-29 Andrews 5

The Countess of St. Andrews’ two daughters, Lady Marina and Lady Amelia Windsor, both chose black hats. Lady Marina wore a large lampshade hat in black and grey straw. The graphic stripes of straw on each layer of the tiered hat were countered by a massive and curvaceous grey straw bow on the back of the hat. The end result was a dramatic and very classic hat reminiscent of Audrey Hepburn in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”. Lady Amelia wore a more streamlined hat in black straw with a diagonally raised brim and a wide white band around the crown.

Lady Marina Windsor and Lady Amelia Windsor, April 29, 2011 | Royal Hats

Princess Alexandra topped her blue brocade suite with a monochrome picture hat. With a blue straw base, the hat was covered in ruched silk organza and trimmed at the side with large blue silk roses and gold feathers. While the overlaid fabric on the hat gave considerable texture, it combined with Alexandra’s suit to make and ensemble suffering from fabric texture overload. I think this hat would have worked better sans overlay, keeping those romantic floral embellishments.

Princess Alexandra of Kent, April 29, 2011 | Royal Hats   Princess Alexandra of Kent, April 29, 2011 | Royal Hats

Julia Ogilvy, Princess Alexandra’s daughter-in-law, topped her taupe dress and ivory lace coat with a cream straw picture hat. The streamlined Philip Treacy design was simply trimmed with a band around the crown and a signature Treacy large flying bow.

Princess Alexandra of Kent and Julia Ogilvy, April 29, 2011 | Royal Hats Julia Ogilvy, April 29, 2011 in Philip Treacy | Royal Hats

Princess Michael of Kent chose characteristically dramatic millinery for this event. While her white picture hat followed a fairly traditional shape, the scale of the wide cartwheel brim was larger than life. The huge hat was trimmed with a wide scarf of ruched silk that looked to be effortlessly thrown over the hat. Marie-Christine wears dramatic hats so very well and this was no exception. I adore the wide brim and appreciate the way the large scale hat balanced her shiny satin Andrea Odicini jacket.

2011-04-29 Michael 1

One of the newest members to the British Royal Family, Lady Frederick Windsor wowed with her millinery choice at this event. Designed by Philip Treacy, Sophie’s navy straw hat featured a moulded crown (as opposed to a seam-joined crown) with wide, oval brim. The elliptical brim was balanced by another Treacy signature multi-looped flying bow. While very simple, the hat is quite a bold design. I particularly loved the way the asymmetrical hat both complemented and contrasted against Sophie’s streamlined Armani coat and dress.

Wearing one of my favourite hats at this wedding, Lady Gabriella Windsor was a vision in peacock blue. Her vibrant picture hat featured an upturned ‘slice’ brim which was trimmed with large silk roses and an arrow feather. The shape was wonderful on Garbiella and I adored how her pale seafoam coat and dress created just the right background for her bright hat and matching purse to ‘pop’. This slice hat is a slightly smaller scale than others in this same style and while it works wonderfully as is, I think it could easily have handled an up-sizing.

 Prince Michael of Kent Family, April 29, 2011 | Royal Hats
The Kents brought us stylish cocktail berets and sublime picture hats at this wedding. Which hat(s) stand out most to you? Stay tuned later today when we look at hats worn by some of the royal guests.
Photos from Getty as indicated, Woman and Home, and BBC TV via The British Monarchy. Source of final photo is unknown.

Hat From The Past

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Royal Hats Not to a hat per se, but a lace veil. 52 years ago today, Princess Alexandra of Kent chose head to toe (plus a 21 foot train) lace for her wedding ensemble.  It`s a LOT of lace but this statuesque royal bride carried it well.