Tag Archives: Princess Märtha Louise

Dutch State Visit to Norway

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King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima were greeted this morning by members of the Norwegian royal family for the start of a state visit to the Nordic nation.

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Queen Máxima repeated a beige blocked beret hat for this morning’s arrival in Oslo.

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The scale of the hat pairs well not only with Máxima’s voluminous dress but with the smaller scale hats typically worn by the Norwegian royal ladies. The combination of felt hat and silk dress is less cohesive, although an understandable choice for the current season and today’s rainy weather. I do admire how the neutral accessories let the dress and emerald earrings shine!

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Designer: Dress by Natan. 
Previously Worn: Jan 20, 2014; Nov 29, 2013

Queen Sonja repeated her chocolate and periwinkle blue felt hat with high, upturned brim embellished with ‘V’ cutouts. I’ve said this before- the hat, especially in combination with the chocolate dress, has a sci-fi vibe I find distracting and overly costumey.  What I do like are the cutouts, a design element we seldom see but that is so visually effective.

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Designer: uknown
Previously Worn: October 11, 2012; October 15, 2007 

Later in the Day, Queen Sonja changed into a different ensemble with brown velvet tam hat. Any day a royal embraces the opportunity to wear multiple hats is a great day! Tams are not trendily fashionable these days, a shame as the style and rich colour suit Sonja really well.

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Crown Princess Mette-Marit repeated her classic ivory felt pillbox, worn, as she does, on the back of her head.

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Designer: Mona Strand. Dress by Fendi.
Previously Worn: May 17, 2019;  Dec 10, 2018; May 15, 2014; Jun 2, 2010; May 17, 2010; Dec 10, 2009

Princess Märtha Louise wore am oyster bandeau bow headpiece trimmed with silver and crystal embellishments.

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Designer: 
Previously Worn: I believe this piece is new

What do you think of this quintet of millinery designs today in Oslo?

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Images from Getty as indicated  

Milestone Birthday: Princess Märtha Louise

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We wish Princess Märtha Louise of Norway a very happy 50th birthday today and celebrate this milestone with a look back at some of her hats and headpieces:

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New portraits of the princess were released by the Norwegian monarchy to mark this occasion but, not surprisingly, without hats.

Photos from Getty as indicated

Norwegian Royal Wedding 20 Years On: Scandinavian Royals

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Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit;s late afternoon wedding on August 25, 2001 carried a formal dress code. We don’t often cover tiaras here but any daytime diamonds are fair game here at Royal Hats so we’re going to sparkle up the rest of this week and look at the jewels and gowns worn by royal guests to this event (I’ll leave discussion about the jewels to expert Lauren Kiehna and link to her comprehensive history of each diadem).

Queen Sonja topped her jade gown with the very grand diamond and emerald tiara from the Norwegian Emerald Parure

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Princess Märtha Louise wore the modern tiara her grandfather King Olav gifted her in 1989 with diamond ears of wheat and pearls.

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Princess Astrid wore Queen Maud’s Turquoise Circlet tiara, beautifully paired with her pale blue gown.

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Princess Ragnhild wore what is known as Princess Ingebog’s Boucheron Circle Tiara

Queen Margrethe topped her purple ensemble with the romantic heart-shaped Baden Palmette Tiara

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Princess Benedikte wore her Star and Pearl Tiara. Her eldest daughter, Princess Alexandra of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg, wore her mother’s wonderful floral tiara; her younger daughter, Princess Nathalie of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg, is shown below in coral, in an open design tiara I’ve not been able to identify.

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Queen Anne-Marie of Greece wore the beautiful scrolled diamond Khedive of Egypt Tiara

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Princess Alexia of Greece and Denmark wore her diamond tiara with lovely halo shape.

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Queen Silvia wore one of her larger tiaras, Queen Sofia’s Tiara with central starburst and diamond swags.

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Crown Princess Victoria wore her graphic diamond Baden Fringe Tiara

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Princess Madeleine wore the Modern Fringe Tiara, a gift from her parents which she would later wear at her own wedding.

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We don’t chat tiaras much here but like hats, a tiara’s shape or scale can suit (or not suit!) their wearers and the ensembles with which they are paired. Which ones here stand out to you most?

Images from Getty as indicated  

Dutch Royal Wedding 20 Years On: Guests

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We finish our look back 20 years at the May 2001  wedding of Prince Constantijn and Princess Laurentien today with hats worn by royal guests and extended members of the Dutch royal family to the couple’s religious ceremony.

Princess Mathilde wore a white parasisal straw hat with slightly flared, flat-top crown and generous mushroom brim. The classic black and white scheme always works and I really like how the black stitching on her coat was reversed in white on the hat’s black hatband.

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Crown Princess Victoria took a more neutral path with a tan and cream subtle plaid coat and dress topped with a picture hat in beige straw. It was not a dynamic look (it’s all rather biscuit!!), not helped by the low curve of the hat’s gently sidesweeping brim that sat awkwardly low over Victoria’s face.

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Mette-Marit Tjenssem, who would become Crown Princess of Norway three months later, wore a blush coat with sequin detail repeated on the hatband of her cream picture hat. It was another quiet ensemble (despite the sequins) but nice, from today’s vantage point, to see Mette-Marit in a brimmed design.

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We can usually count on Princess Märtha Louise to bring some colour and she did not disappoint at this event, pairing her lilac shantung silk suit with a deep orange statement hat. Between the hat’s vibrant shade, extended brim with point ends, fuchsia brim binding and brim stitching and hatband of cut orange and fuchsia silk leaves, it was a memorable design.

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Princess Kiko was in head to hem pale butter yellow. Her hat was a most interesting shape with a bumper style overtop a downward facing visor- it really defies description. Can you remember seeing her in another design of this shape? It feels unique.

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Princess Sibilla of Luxembourg topped her red suit with a natural straw woven hat with rounded crown and fluted brim bound with chocolate binding and topped with a layer of silk petal studded crin… or a large patterned lace? The hat was finished with a large flower on the left side.

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The Countess of Wessex wore two toned hat with green fluted crown and palest seafoam parasisal straw with very interesting, inverted brim and trimmed with peacock feathers. We don’t see many two toned hats and while this one reflects millinery styles of the time, still was a well balanced and interesting (in a good way!) design.

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Princess Alexandra De Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berlebourg (Princess Benedikte’s eldest daughter) contrasted her pale blue ensemble with a copper straw picture hat. The unexpected scheme worked, as did the hat’s scale on Alexandra’s tall frame. I really like the proportion between the hat’s crown and wide brim and the textural contrast provided by the stitched silk bow.

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Princess Miriam of Bulgaria wore a folded black sinamay design with black and white feathers and a black veil.

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Princess Margriet wore a wide brimmed hat in red sinamay with long sinamay sash folded over the hat. That folded sash was unique, as hat trimmings go, but seemed at odds with the rest of the design.

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Princess Marilène (back row behind Prince Constantijn) wore a dark hued, wide brimmed hat. Princess Irene (front row on right, beside Maxima) wore a lime green straw boater with extended brim. Princess Christina (second row, in between Prince Constantijn and Queen Beatrix) looked to be in a hat with black brim and royal blue crown.

It’s always interesting, looking back at past events, which hats seem timeless and which ones reflect specific styles of the time. Looking back 20 years at this event, which hats stand out most to you?

You can see hats worn by immediate family (and the bride’s attire) at the religious ceremony here and hats at the civil ceremony here.

Images from Getty as indicated  

Christening of Princess Estelle, Nine Years On: Royal Guests & Extended Family

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t’s no surprise that Princess Estelle’s christening on May 22, 2012 was also attended by numerous royal guests and extended members of the Swedish royal family.

Queen Margrethe wore a navy straw wide-brimmed picture hat. Navy dotted white tulle overlaid the open-weave straw brim and a large flower of white feathers adored the piece on the side. The scale of the piece is such a contrast from the brimless and short-brimmed hats we’re used to seeing on the Danish queen today and while the tulle looks overly fussy to me now, it links the hat well to Margrethe’s dotted ensemble.

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Queen Mathilde (was was Crown Princess at the time, wore a layered calot hat in the same taupe silk chiffon as her skirt. It’s not an terribly exciting hat but anything with more presence likely would have competed with her elaborate beaded jacket and the overall look is certainly festive, however subdued.

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Princess Máxima, who would become queen a year later, stood out in a red suit and Fabienne Delvigne ruched turban. The turban is beautifully draped and pairs well with the modern-vintage vibe of the suit, the vibrant colour giving some much needed pep at an event that, as we’ve seen, saw so many pale and neutral ensembles. Trust Máxima to liven things up.

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Princess Märtha Louise wore a pale straw pink hat with layered raw-edge brim. The jaunty angle provided by the brim’s sidesweeping shape gave it lovely lift and that unfinished edge, echoed on the hat’s wide hatband, contrasted well with the smooth silk of Märtha’s jacket. With diamond chandelier earrings and an ecru and blush striped dress, it was a great look for her.

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As this was Countess Stéphanie de Lannoy’s first major royal event (she and Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume would marry five months later), it wasn’t a surprise that she dipped into her future mother-in-law’s closet for a hat. This grey pleated silk abaca headpiece by Fabienne Delvigne requires some millinery courage to pull off and while I wasn’t thrilled about its pairing with this grey bouclé jacket, Stéphanie still wore it well.

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The King’s sisters were all in attendance, Princess Margaretha in a grey pillbox with side bow, Princess Birgitta in a white rose fascinator and Princess Désirée in a red Garbo hat with relaxed brim. Princess Christina wore a disc headpiece in navy straw painted with white Swiss dots, edged in white binding and trimmed with navy and white feathers (see a better view of it at Crown Princess Victoria’s 40th birthday celebration here).

Princess Christina’s daughter-in-laws, Emma Magnussen, Vicky Andren and Frida Bergström were all in attendance. Emma’s navy crin headpiece featured a birdcage-style transparent brim and was studded in slim feathers. Vicky’s taupe straw hat was trimmed in a triple stacked hatband with straw flower and goose feathers on the side.

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Frida Bergström (4th row, far left) wore a loden green pillbox hat swathed in a gold dotted net veil. Also seen in the photo above are Countess Marianne Bernadott (3rd row, far left in front of Frida) in a mint green brimmed hat (see a better view at a later wearing here) and Dagmar von Arbin (4th row, 4th from left) in a purple straw pillbox studded with silk flowers (see a better view at Prince Oscar’s christening here). After the palate of very pale neutrals we saw in the first post, the brighter spring hues seen in the photo above give some welcome vibrancy to this event!

Nearly a decade on, which hats stand out most to you from this event?  To see hats worn by Princess Estelle’s family members and godparents, jump over to this post. 

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Photos from Getty as indicated; SVT and the Swedish Monarchy