Tag Archives: Princess Madeleine

Christening of Prince Alexander: Immediate Family

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As with other recent Swedish christenings, today’s baptism of Prince Alexander was an family-centric affair. Queen Silvia debuted her third ‘grand-baby christening colour’ (she wore pink for the christenings of Princess Estelle and Prince Oscar and blue for the christenings of Princess Leonore and Prince Nicolas) along with a new hat.

Embed from Getty Images   Embed from Getty Images

In a modified calot shape (the back did not completely cover the crown of Silvia’s head), this design is entirely covered in silk hydrangea blossoms that cascade down onto the shoulders of her coordinating jacket. While the hat has a decidedly 1960s vibe to it (reminiscent of other past royal hats here and here), the flowers lend wonderful texture and celebratory feel to this piece, which is a beautiful colour on Queen Silvia.
Queen Silvia, September 9, 2016 | Royal Hats   Queen Silvia, September 9, 2016 | Royal Hats
Designer: unconfirmed
Previously Worn: This hat is new

Crown Princess Victoria topped her coral pink Elie Saab dress with a custom bowed headband made of the same lace. Any more use of lace on the headpiece would have been complete overkill but… this headpiece left me wanting more. I think this is another case where a neural straw percher could have done a lot to lift this all-lace ensemble and provide some much needed textural contrast.

Crown Princess Victoria, September 9, 2016 in Malinda Damgaard | Royal Hats   Crown Princess Victoria, September 9, 2016 in Malinda Damgaard | Royal Hats

Crown Princess Victoria, September 9, 2016 in Malinda Damgaard | Royal Hats    Crown Princess Victoria, September 9, 2016 in Malinda Damgaard | Royal Hats

While this headpiece fell completely flat for me, my heart was warmed by the matched hues of Victoria and Estelle’s frocks. So very sweet.

Embed from Getty Images   Embed from Getty Images
Designer: Malinda Damgaard
Previously Worn: This headpiece is new

Princess Madeleine topped her blue floral Erdem dress with a stylised double bow headpiece in navy and sky blue. The pointed shape of the bows saves the bow from saccharine cutesey-ness (barely) and the piece works well with Madeleine’s chignon hairstyle. I’m not a great fan of the piece but at an event that saw almost no real hats, it held its own.

Embed from Getty Images Embed from Getty Images

Princess Madeleine, September 9, 2016 in Malinda Damgaard | Royal Hats

Princess Madeleine, September 9, 2016 in Malinda Damgaard | Royal Hats

Designer: Malinda Damgaard
Previously Worn: This headpiece is new

Inquisitive young Princess Leonore sported a white double hair bow.

Princess Leonore, September 9, 2016 | Royal Hats   Princess Leonore, September 9, 2016 | Royal Hats

Embed from Getty Images
Designer: I suspect Livly
Princess Sofia’s mother Marie matched her pink lace dress to a fascinator of straw leaves and feathers in the same hue.
Marie Rotman Hellqvist, September 9, 2016 | Royal Hats   Marie Rotman Hellqvist, September 9, 2016 | Royal Hats
Sofia’s sister, Lina Frejd, who was named as one of Prince Alexander’s godparents, topped her chic blue dress with a ruffled floral fascinator in pale grey, pinned to the back of her hair. Sofia’s other sister, Sara, wore a navy triple bow fascinator anchored to a headband. At an event with such pared-back millinery, the pieces worn by Hellqvist family members fit right in.
Lina Frejd, September 9, 2016 | Royal Hats Lina Frejd, September 9, 2016 | Royal Hats   Sara Hellqvist, September 9, 2016 | Royal Hats
 All in all, I’m afraid today’s royal millinery in Sweden was disappointing for me. My favourite piece here is Queen Silvia’s hat simply because it’s the only thing that comes close to being an actual hat. What are your impressions of the hats worn by the Queen and Swedish princesses today?

Swedish Royals Celebrate National Day

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Swedish Royal Family, June 6, 2016 | Royal Hats

The Swedish Royal Family kicked off National Day celebrations earlier this morning with the release of two photos of Princess Estelle taken at Haga Palace. In the first, she is dressed in national costume, cuddling her little brother and in the second, she and Crown Princess Victoria are both sporting summery hats in natural straw.

Princess Estelle and Prince Oscar, June 6, 2016 | Royal Hats

Crrown Princess Victoria and Princess Estelle, June 6, 2016 | Royal Hats

The King and Queen spent the first part of today visiting Sofiero Castle which is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year. For their tour of the castle and recently completed commemorative gardens and an outdoor concert, Queen Silvia wore a new hat in what can only be described as Swedish blue! Made of lightly woven straw, the design features a rounded crown, and side sweeping brim. 

Queen Silvia, June 6, 2016 | Royal Hats

The hat is trimmed in a pleated silk hatband and a side spray of blue silk flowers (irises maybe?) that reveal peeks of yellow and white at their centre, giving a wonderful but very subtle nod to Swedish national colours.

 Queen Silvia, June 6, 2016 | Royal Hats

Head-to-toe outfits in strong colours such as this blue can be difficult to balance but the transparent straw used for this hat design gives a beautiful lightness to the ensemble. It’s a beautiful colour on Queen Silvia and I think she wears this hat, beautifully.

Queen Silvia, June 6, 2016 | Royal Hats

Designer: unknown
Previously Worn: This hat is new

The family congregated in Stockholm in the evening for their annual carriage procession from the Royal Palace to Skansen for an outdoor concert. Queen Silvia, Crown Princess Victoria, Princess Madeleine and Princess Sofia all wore Swedish National Dress completed with the white folded linen headpieces (traditionally worn only by married women). Princess Estelle wore a sweet royal blue and yellow braided folk headband.

Queen Silvia, June 6, 2016 | Royal Hats

Embed from Getty Images

Embed from Getty Images

Embed from Getty Images

Embed from Getty Images

Embed from Getty Images

What do you think about Queen Silvia’s new hat for National Day today?

Photos from Kate Gabor via the Swedish Monarchy; Stella Pictures; and Getty as indicated

Christening of Prince Oscar

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Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel brought their young son, Prince Oscar, to the Royal Chapel in Stockholm’s Royal Palace this morning to be christened.

For this special occasion, Princess Victoria chose a white cocktail hat with straw beret base. Lavishly trimmed with white silk flowers that covers most of the base, the hat is completed with a wrap of widely woven white net tulle veil that encircles it. The veil gives a retro feel to the otherwise modern piece and the scale of it is excellent on Victoria. Paired with her exquisite white broderie anglaise dress and worn at just the right angle on the side of her head, the hat made for a beautiful ensemble. My only quibble is that in photographs, the hat reads more starkly white than the dress does, leaving us with a slight colour variation that I suspect was not visible in person.

Crown Princess Victoria, May 27, 2016 in Philip Treacy | Royal Hats

Crown Princess Victoria, May 27, 2016 in Philip Treacy | Royal Hats

Designer: Philip Treacy
Previously Worn: This hat is new

Proud big sister Princess Estelle matched her mother in an all white ensemble with her first headpiece! A headband topped with a sidepray of silk leaves and flowers created the small fascinator which beautifully tied in with the flower and leaf print of Estelle’s dress. A sweet pearl necklace and a ponytail anchored with a white bow to completed her adorable look.

Princess Estelle, May 27, 2016 | Royal Hats

Princess Estelle, May 27, 2016 | Royal Hats

Princess Estelle, May 27, 2016 | Royal Hats

Princess Estelle, May 27, 2016 | Royal Hats

Queen Silvia matched her blush pink silk and lace dress with a headpiece in the same lace embossed fabric. While it looks like the piece is one of Silvia’ go-to calot shapes, photos taken during the service allowed a peek at the back which reveal it to be a wide circlet around the crown of her head. While I am usually not a fan of open crown designs, there is something about the movement of this piece and how it contrasts against’s Queen Silvia’s hair that makes it rather attractive.

Queen Silvia, May 27, 2016 | Royal Hats

Designer: unknown. Perhaps Fabienne Delvigne?
Previously Worn: This headpiece is new

Princess Madeleine, who was named as one of Prince Oscar’s godparents, topped her blush pink silk dress with a giant silk flower headpiece edged in delicate pink net. The scale of the piece is fantastic on Madeleine and her romantic hairstyle showed it off to complete perfection.

Princess Madeleine, May 27, 2016 | Royal Hats

Princess Madeleine, May 27, 2016 | Royal Hats

Designer: unconfirmed. My guess is Philip Treacy
Previously Worn: This headpiece is new

Princess Leonore’s blue and white dress was topped with a sweet white double hair bow. She and her brother Prince Nicolas kept their parents busy during the christening but it was lovely to see them both included in the event.

Princess Leonore, May 27, 2016 | Royal HatsDesigner: Livly

Princess Sofia topped her blue caped dress with a small hat in beige straw. While a neutral hat was a great choice for this dress, it was most unfortunate that the too-flat design of this mini pillbox shape left it looking like a pancake stuck on her head. Earlier this month, Sofia wore a lovely beige straw piece for the Chilean state visit and I think this design, with simple looped bow brim, would have been a better choice for her ensemble today.

Princess Sofia, May 27, 2016 | Royal Hats

Designer: unknown
Previously Worn: This hat is new

Prince Daniel’s mother Ewa Westling wore a cream cocktail hat with a round base in cream straw which was covered in straw bow loops, rosettes, slim feathers and pearl sprays. I always feel for her at these major royal events (it can’t be easy adjusting one’s ‘normal life’ wardrobe to include items for much-photographed royal occasions) and she looked great. This pair of grandmas clearly coordinated their attire and I thought that was a sweet touch.

Ewa Westling, May 27, 2016 | Royal HatsEwa Westling, May 27, 2016 | Royal Hats
Prince Daniel’s sister, Anna Westling Söderström, topped her ecru lace dress with a large headpiece of gold straw looped bows and a net tulle veil designed by Anna-Stinas Hattstuga.
Anna Westling Söderström, May 27, 2016 | Royal Hats Anna Westling Söderström, May 27, 2016 | Royal Hats
While I don’t expect a wide array of colourful hat designs at a royal christening, I was a little disappointed by some of the hats we saw today in Sweden. Of these hats worn by wee Prince Oscar’s close family members, which designs stood out most to you? Jump over to the following posts for:
Photos from Getty as indicated; ; SVT; Rex Features; and Jonas Ekstromer, Olle Sporung, Maja Suslin, Pontus Lundahl and Anna-Karin Nilsson via TT News Agency

Birthday Celebration Of Swedish King

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Festivities for the 70th birthday of King Carl Gutaf IX continued today with schedule of daytime events that included a Te Deum Thanksgiving Service at the Royal Palace, Armed Forces tribute, choral tribute and cortege, and lunch hosted by the City of Stockholm.

As expected, the day’s events saw new millinery worn by the Swedish royal ladies. Queen Silvia wore a large picture hat with mushroom-shaped brim in pale pink straw. The hat’s small, rounded crown was trimmed in a ring of pink silk that knotted at the side into a flying silk and straw bow. It’s a much larger hat than we’re used to seeing on Silvia but the size seemed to convey the importance of the occasion.

Designer: Philip Treacy
Previously Worn: This hat is new

Crown Princess Victoria topped her striped dress and white coat with a white straw hat. The hat featured an angular , off-centred peak at the top of the crown (very similar to this hat), and a diagonally upfolded brim. A pleated band of black patent leather finished the piece, circling round the base of the crown and ending in an elaborate ringed knot at the side. The angular lines of the piece work well on Victoria and while I didn’t like the hat in combination with the coat, it’s a great topper to her striped dress. We can’t forget wee Prince Oscar, who made his official début in a blue knitted cap.

Designer: Philip Treacy desicn OC-153 from SS 2016
Previously Worn: This hat is new

Princess Sofia topped her pale pink dress and white coat with a headpiece of silk roses and pale green velvet leaves. While she undoubtedly is focused these days on her brand new son, Prince Alexander, I would have preferred to see her in something more than these few faux blooms.

Princess Sofia, April 30, 2016 | Royal Hats   Princess Sofia, April 30, 2016 | Royal Hats

Designer: unknown
Previously Worn: This headpiece is new. 

The other ‘blooming’ hat at this event was worn by Princess Madeleine. Her percher hat featured a sculptured saucer in black straw edged in white windowpane sinamay. The tall, fluted side of the hat was trimmed with huge silk cabbage roses in the same pale pink as her coat. This is a far more bold and dramatic hat than Madeleine usually chooses and it would have been a home run without those two unfortunately placed black appliqué flowers on the neckline of her dress. How I want to take a scissors to those things.

Designer: Philip Treacy design OC-109 from SS 2016
Previously Worn: This hat is new
Such large, hatted events happen only a few times per year and it is wonderful to see the spirit of fun and celebration that was undoubtedly part of the day, also visible in these hats. Which ones stood out to you?

This Week’s Extras

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Royal Hats

Back on January 15, the Imperial Crown Prince and Princess celebrated anniversaries of the National Olympic Memorial Youth Center and National Institution for Youth Education. Princess Masako looked smart in a repeated a pale beige hat with rolled crown and simple ribbon trim around the base of the crown (Sankei)

Crown Princess Masako, January 15, 2016 | Royal Hats

Princess Anne in a cozy fur cap on her visit to the Falkland Islands (British Monarchy)

Princess Madeleine shared some wonderful snaps of her family’s vacation in the Maldives (Princess Madeleine Facebook)

A textile curator from Het Loo Palace shared these wonderful photos of several vintage hats worn by Queen Juliana

 

Royal Hats

Lovely new photographs of Princess Ingrid released for her 12th birthday (Royal House of Norway)

And finally, an Interview with Peter Phillips about festivities around his granny’s upcoming 90th birthday party (ITV)

Photo from Sankei