Tag Archives: Princess Inaara

Dutch Royal Wedding 17 Years On: Royal Guests Part 3

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We wrap up our nostalgic look back at King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima’s wedding on February 2, 2002 with a look at the royal hats worn by guests from Spain, Greece, Jordan, Great Britain, Monaco with a few extras thrown in.

Queen Sofia of Spain wore a cascading headpiece of golden beige organza leaves and roses. While the design looked transported from the 1960s, it linked well with her lace suit.

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Princess Cristina wore a heather purple felt brimmed hat trimmed with feathers in purple and dark grey. I’m still at odds about the feather placement- on one hand, it’s terribly messy but on the other, I like its exuberance and admire how the two shades link with her dark blue velvet and purple silk coat… a rather bulky item (it looked like a blanket) that hasn’t aged well. When a hat makes a coat look better, that can only be a good thing.

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Queen Anne-Marie of Greece topped her textured red coat with a matching hat. In a modified top hat shape, the felt design features a tall, flared crown with domed top, upturned rolled brim with downsweep on one side, a layered red felt hatband and brown mink pompoms. The mink trim links well with the mink trim on Anne-Marie’s coat without being overly matchy and those pompoms are whimsical and fun. This hat’s unique shape is very much of its time but I always thought it was a bold and brave choice for her.

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Princess Marie-Chantal followed the same formula as Grand Duchess Maria Teresa, topping her richly patterned brocade coat with a tall brown fur Cossack style hat. Unfortunately, the hat’s large scale completely overwhelmed her and I’m still trying to see how it relates to the red, magenta and gold printed coat (which it’s own, is gorgeous!).

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Queen Noor of Jordan wore an embroidered headscarf in white, an interesting colour choice for a winter event with her baby blue silk tailored suit. She is photographed below by the Prince of Wales who wore his naval uniform and cap. Princess Sarvath, Princess Badiya and Princess Sumaya are also listed on the guest list but I’ve not been able to locate any photographs of them.
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The Countess of Wessex wore primarily Philip Treacy millinery hats at the time and chose one in camel felt for this event. The design made its style statement primarily by shape, pairing a deeply pinched, tall stovepipe crown with an offset brim. The hat was minimally embellished with a slim hatband tied in a front bow. It’s another design very much of the time and looking at it now, seemed a little heavy for Sophie’s cream coat and delicately embellished dress.

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Prince Albert of Monaco wore military uniform with cap while his elder sister, Princess Caroline of Hanover and Monaco, wore a grey felt cloche with extended brim and wide grey hatband. The hat’s classic shape suited Caroline well although I’m not sure about its pairing with her Chanel dress and coat, pieces that feel like they ought to be paired with something more luxurious and bespoke.
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Princess Míriam of Bulgaria topped her pink feathered skirt and fur collared jacket in a what looks like a headpiece of horizontally placed pheasant and pink feathers, placed on the back of her head.
Princess Inaara, wife of the Aga Khan at the time, wore a calot hat in large flowers with petals made of mocha and copper organza, velvet and crin (see closeup here). The mixed textures on the piece gave it some life and while it related well to Inaara’s fur trimmed camel cape, these combined less well with her mushroom grey tweed suit and earthy green blouse. Too many neutrals, I’d say.
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Other noteable guests included Nelson Mandela and Graça Machel, who wore a traditional African printed capulana headwrap and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and his wife Nane, who wore a brimmed hat in pale pink straw. 
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This wraps up our look back at this wedding! What do you think of this final group of hats?
Photos from Getty as indicated

Spanish Royal Wedding Ten Years On: Remaining Non-Reigning Royals

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The Royal Hats Blog We have finally come to the final post on our look back at the hats worn by family and guests at the May 22, 2004 wedding of the Princes of Asturias and Letizia Ortiz Rocosolano! Our peek is at the hats worn by representatives from non-reigning royal houses.

One of my favorite hats in this group was worn by Empress Farah of Iran. In palest blue straw, this hat featured a flat crown and large, mushroom shaped brim. The brim is not a shape we see often, perhaps because it can easily swallow up the face of the person wearing it. Brim proportions aside, the hat was a lovely compliment for the Empress’ perfectly tailored coat and, as usual, she looked elegant and very refined.

Empress Farah of Iran, May 22, 2004 | Royal Hats Embed from Getty Images

Maria Vladimirovna, Grand Duchess of Russia, wore a kokoshnik-inspired hat in the same white, pink and red silk print as her dress. Trimmed in pink silk with a bow at the back, this halo shaped hat framed Maria Vladimirovna’s face and made her look all the more Russian.

Maria Vladimirovna, May 22, 2004 | Royal Hats

The Duchess of Bragança topped her pale peach silk suit with a cream straw hat trimmed in a peach sash around the crown and bloom on the side. The brim on this hat was slightly upturned on one side- a feature I would have loved to see exaggerated more to give the hat more panache and personality. It was a little too sedate, as it was.

Duchess of Braganza, May 22, 2004 | Royal Hats

Princess Béatrice of Orléans, Comtesse d’Evreux showed her fashion fearlessness by pairing a bold magenta headpiece with an even bolder magenta frock. A mass of magenta straw curling leaves and flowers, the headpiece was wrapped in net tulle veil and worn directly on the top of Béatrice’s head. While I do not want to question the Princess’ fashion sense (she was a fashion consultant for many years for Women’s Wear Daily and Dior), the placement of this headpiece doesn’t seem right. Nor do the lilac satin gloves, reminiscent of identical ones worn by a certain diva Muppet.

Princess Béatrice of Orléans, Comtesse d'Evreux, May 22, 2004 | Royal Hats

Marina Doria, the Princess of Naples, wore a white lace veil anchored at the back of her head. While this was presumably done for religious reasons, the combination of the lace veil with Princess Marina tanned décolletage and white disco ball skirt was unexpected, to say the least. Her daughter-in-law, Princess Clotilde of Savoy, wore a headpiece of swirling white feathers that wrapped around her head.  I suspect the intent of this piece was to add to the ethereal effect of her organza trimmed suit but in reality, it looked like she was sporting a pair of white ear muffs.

Princess Clotilde of Savoy and The Princess of Naples, May 22, 2004 | Royal Hats Princess Clotilde of Savoy, May 22, 2004 | Royal Hats

While we have seen numerous brightly hued and whimsical hats worn at this wedding, I do not believe any topped the chapeau worn by Princess Inaara Aga Khan for sheer fun and frivolity This hat, in white straw wrapped in an overlay of red fishnet with polka dots, was trimmed in a red, purple, lime and white straw bow at the front. Princess Inaara paired it with a white suit – a good thing, to be sure, but a choice which made the hat stand out all the more.

Princess Inaara Aga Khan. May 22, 2004 | Royal Hats

That draws our look back at King Felipe and Queen Letizia’s wedding to a close. And what fun this has been! I am curious to hear what you thought of these and the other MANY royal hats that made an appearance at this event. Which one was your absolute favourite?

An index of all hats worn at this wedding can be seen at this post. We’ll be back to regular royal hat news and features first thing Monday morning.

Photos from  Lalo Yaky,Tim Graham and Pascal Le Segretain via Getty; El Mundo, El Mundo and El Mundo; Getty/Stringer via Getty; and El Mundo

Wedding Guest Hats, Ten Years Later

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The wedding of Prince Laurent and Princess Claire of Belgium ten years ago today was a “mini” royal wedding – Laurent was the son of a king but not the heir to the throne. A number of royals from across Europe attended and there were some great hats on display. After looking at the bride’s veil and dress earlier today, let’s now turn our attention to the guests’ hats.

Queen Paola and Claire’s mother Nicole looked like they coordinated their millinery as both were in unadorned  light brown natural straw hats with upturned brims. Nicole’s hat featured a square shaped crown while Paola’s was a more traditionally rounded shape to highlight her dramatic diagonal brim. Their hats were both winners for me and both were designed by Fabienne Delvigne.

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The groom’s aunt Queen Fabiola of Belgium wore a hat in her favourite colour (lavender) with a wide upturned brim and silk flower trim. I loved how she placed it at a jaunty angle on her head and thought she looked just beautiful.

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Claire’s sister Joanna looked very demure in a soft pink 1920’s inspired cloche with side fan bow also designed by Fabienne Delvigne. In considerable contrast, Princess Mathilde (the groom’s sister-in-law) looked rather dramatic in a huge pink metallic straw conical pyramid hat designed by Maison van den Borne. It’s a lot of hat for this petite princess and I think it overwhelms her a little. Since we’ve never seen her repeat this one, I can only guess that she was on the fence about it, too (although, I can’t imagine the average daytime royal engagement warrants THIS big a hat!).

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Princess Astrid (sister of Prince Laurent) gave birth to her fifth child, Princess Laetitia only ten days after the wedding and thus was not able to attend. Her eldest daughter, Maria Laura, carried on her mother’s zany hat style with this ruched pink organza Peach Basket style hat. As this was this young Princess’ first major public hat occasion I’m going to give her a pardon and only comment one word: lampshade. Enough said.

Princess Lea of Belgium wore a blue picture hat of ruched straw while Princess Esmeralda wore a large red straw picture hat with square crown and breton-style upturned brim edged in a wide bias stripe of straw.

Princess Lea and Princess Esmeralda, April 12, 2013 | Royal Hats

Princess Esmeralda, April 12, 2013 | Royal Hats

Most of the Luxmbourg Royals (who are cousins as their mother was King Albert’s sister) were in attendance. Princess Margaretha of Liechtenstein (née Princess of Luxembourg) wore an elegant beige straw hat with mushroom shaped brim and back bow. Princess Sibilla of Luxembourg wore a large lilac straw hat with high upturned brim. I loved both these hats, although I could have done without the rest of Sibilla’s outfit.

Princess Margaretha of Liechtenstein | The Royal Hats Blog

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Grand Duchess Maria Teresa must have also received a memo to wear a hat with an upturned brim because that’s exactly what she did- in bright orange.

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The Swedish Royal Family was represented by Crown Princess Victoria and Princess Madeleine. Victoria wore a chocolate brown straw picture hat with a square crown designed by Philip Treacy (and trimmed by Treacy’s signature pink looped bow). This remains one of my favourite hats that Victoria has ever worn. Madeleine wore an ice blue straw hat with a slightly mushroom shaped brim and side fan bow.

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The Dutch Royal family were represented by Prince Constantijn and Princess Laurentien. Laurentien wore a watermelon pink straw hat with – you guessed it – another upturned brim! It’s a great hat, although I think Laurentien ‘s fine features would be better complimented with a more delicate hat (and no crazy collar necklace). It was also a Fabienne Delvigne design.

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Also in attendance were Prince Kardam and Princess Miriam of Bulgaria (before their awful car accident in 2008)  and the Duke and Duchess of Bragança. Miriam wore a peach straw hat with a small, flat brim and drown wrapped in organza net. With flowers also on the side, there’s a lot going on with this hat. Isabel wore a simple cream straw hat with rolled brim and side flower detail. It’s not the most exciting of hats but I like it much better than the chocolate brown hat streak she’s on these days.

 

Princess Inaara Aga Khan (wife of the Aga Khan) wore this whimsical transparent beige pstraw brimmed hat with purrple straw hatband.

Prince Laurent and Princess Claire celebrate this, their tenth anniversary with their children Princess Louise and twins Prince Nicolas and Prince Aymeric, who joined them in 2004 and 2005. The family does not play any official royal role but we see them joining the rest of the Belgian Royals for major events like the Remembrance Te Deums every February and the National Holiday in July.

Looking back at their wedding from a decade later, I have to name this “The Wedding of the Upturned Brim!” That being said, many of the hats were unadorned and could be easily worn today. I think my favourite was Princess Victoria of Sweden in that elegant brown and pink picture hat. Which one did you like best? And which one would you still wear today?

Photos from The Royal Forums; Svenskdam; and The Royal Forums