Tag Archives: Princess Mette-Marit

Birthday Celebrations for Queen Margrethe

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Royal Hats

We have already looked at the hats worn by members of the Danish Royal Family today for Queen Margrethe’s 75th birthday lunch at Copenhagen’s Town Hall– now it’s time to turn our attention to the hats worn by royal guests. Queen Anne-Marie of Greece (Queen Margrethe’s youngest sister) topped her beige pleated silk dress and bouclé coat with a chocolate felt hat. The hat, with a rounded crown and simple curled brim, was trimmed with a beige band around the crown that wrapped into a side bow surrounded in beige feathers. It’s not a particularly memorable hat but I appreciated the contrast it provided to Anne-Marie’s very beige ensemble.

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In contrast, Queen Silvia was a vision in vibrant purple. Rounding out her her silk suit (the same one previously worn to the Luxembourg royal wedding in 2012) and wool cape was a silk rose and straw twisted curl fascinator designed by Philip Treacy. Silvia looks fabulous in jewel tones and this bright piece was a nice change from the demure pillboxes and calots she has favoured of late… even though it does look like it is levitating on the side of her head. I adored how the magenta headpiece played against her purple ensemble and gave some much needed lively colour among the rather bland ensembles worn by other royal guests.

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Crown Princess Victoria topped her Chanel dress with a twin to the Philip Treacy fascinator she wore last year for Princess Leonore’s christening. While the two white pieces worked very well together, I can’t help being curious about another version of this very distinctive piece.

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Crown Princess Mette-Marit continued her trend of not wearing hats by (you guessed it), not wearing a hat. Instead, she topped her white dress and coat with her gold Prada headband tied with a red ribbon (clearly, in a reference to the red and white Danish flag). Mette-Marit wore this same headband to Queen Margrethe’s 70th birthday five years ago and I suspect its appearance today might reference the last big birthday party. Such personal touches aside, I can’t wait for her aversion to hats to be over because no amount of ribbons woven through this headband will make it a hat.

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The hats worn by the Swedish royal women stood out to me in this group, they didn’t top those worn by the Danish Queen and princesses. Which one of these royal hats was your favourite today?

Photos from Getty as indicated

British Royal Wedding Ten Years On: Royal Guests

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Royal Hats While the wedding of the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall ten years ago was primarily a family affair, it was also attended by Dutch, Norwegian and Greek royal guests.

The House of Orange was represented by Prince Constantijn and Princess Laurentien. While this period saw Laurentien in a number of experimental and very avant garde pieces of fashion and millinery, her hat and suit at this wedding was uncharacteristically classic. Her hat, a large white straw piece with rounded brim, was trimmed in a black ruched sash around the base of the crown, wide piping around the brim and a spray of black feathers. It’s a beautiful hat but to me, it has always seemed at odds with Laurentien’s characteristic quirky style and short, funky haircut.

The most interesting fascinator at this wedding was worn by Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway. Her headpiece consisted of a giant curved black feather topped with a mass of wispy, floating navy feathers. At the time, I remember thinking that while the scale of the piece was ridiculously large, it magically seemed to work. Maybe it was because the wispy feathers added another layer of navy texture to Mette-Marit’s intricately patterned lace and silk suit. Maybe it was because the hat was less jarring than her stark silver shoes.

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 Queen Anne-Marie of Greece wore an elegant ensemble, as usual, to this event. Her pale blue straw lampshade style hat was clearly dyed to perfectly match her suit; fabric from the suit was used for a band around the crown and piping around the brim. The proportion of lampshade style hats can be difficult to get right but this one was successful and left this Greek Queen firmly wearing it (instead of the lampshade wearing her). The monochromatic nature of the hat was a great counterpoint to her grey lace trimmed suit and she looked perfectly polished.

That concludes our fashion tour of this wedding! I am curious, dear readers- which hats do you think made the best style statement at the time? Which hats do you think translate best to today?

Photos from Getty as indicated

Norwegian Royals Welcome Latvian President

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King Harald and Queen Sonja extended an official welcome to Latvian President Andris Bērziņš yesterday in a ceremony on the Palace Square. Despite the miserable weather (or perhaps in spite of it), Queen Sonja channeled spring in a new lavender felt hat. Trimmed only with a large flower made of sculpted ribbon, this hat is defined entirely by its shape- a stylised, exaggerated top hat with flared crown and short, rolled brim. While I adore the colour of this hat with Queen Sonja’s purple and grey paisley fur trimmed cape, I’m not a fan of its slightly cartoonish shape.

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

Crown Princess Mette-Marit repeated her eggplant purple wool unembellished calot hat. I also though this hat was a miss, as it did not relate well to her beautiful ruffled Valentino coat. The placement of this hat continues to feel off to me (I’d prefer it higher, over the crown of her head) and adds to the the odd neckline confluence of ruffles, scarf and hat. The overall ensemble is off-balance for me between the floaty dress and wool hat.

Designer: Mona Strand
Previously Worn: May 17, 2013; December 10, 2012; October 10, 2012; December 10, 2008

Princess Astrid looked to be wearing a textured beret style hat. I suspect her black ensemble is in mourning for her husband, who passed away in late January. It looks like a smart hat, although we need a close look to be certain.

I am afraid that none of these hats excite me at all. Do any of them speak to you?

Photos from Vidar Ruud / NTB Scanpix and Berit Roald / NTB Scanpix via The Royal House of Norway

This Week’s Extras

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Royal Hats

The Swedish and Norwegian royals hanging out together at the Nordic World Ski Championships (Getty). It seems, the Norwegian royals had cause to celebrate (Twitter feed of Kjell Arne Totland)

Royal Hats

Overviews of the Duke of Cambridge’s visit to Japan and China by ITV News and The Telegraph. In coordination with this tour, Getty put together a gallery of past British Royal visits to the land of the rising sun (Getty)

Lovely photos of the Dutch Royal Family on their annual ski holiday (Getty). I adore the shots of Princess Beatrix with her granddaughters.

Part two of the BBC documentary, Reinventing The Royals

Check out the preview of “A Royal Night”, a new movie about one of our favourite royals at the end of WWII

Norwegian Royals Bid Farewell to Johan Ferner

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The funeral of Johan Martin Ferner, late husband of Princess Astrid of Norway, was held on Monday at the Holmenkollen Chapel in Oslo and all members of the Norwegian Royal Family were on hand to pay tribute to his life.

Princess Astrid wore a simple black textured bumper hat. Her daughters and granddaughter wore traditional Norwegian folk dress.

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Queen Sonja wore a black felt hat with pork pie crown and flat brim. The hat was trimmed with a band around the crown and a flat felt rosette on the side.

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Crown Princess Mette-Marit wore a Jennifer Behr designed black net veiled headpiece anchored on a slim black headband.

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Princess Märtha Louise wore a swirled black cocktail hat which was wrapped in a black net veil by Norwegian designer and milliner Wenche Lyche.

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Our thoughts are with Princess Astrid, her family during this difficult time.

Photos from Getty as indicated