The Coronation: Royal Guests

As we have come to expect at such landmark royal events, royal guests at King Charles III’s coronation represented nations from around the globe. Those who wore hats to this event were as follows:

The Sultan of Brunei and King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden

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King Mswati III and Inkhosikati LaMbikiza of Eswatini: Inkhosikati LaMbikiza wore a dusty pink crin halo headpiece trimmed with feathers in the same colour (see a better photo here)

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King Letsie III and Queen Mesenate of Lesotho: Queen Masenate wore a royal blue straw saucer hat trimmed with a dramatic starburst of ivory goose biot feathers.

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King Abdullah and Queen Rania of Jordan: Queen Rania wore a brimless domed hat in the same pale yellow as her dress. The design includes embellishment at the back (a rosette? a bow?) and a wrap of delicate yellow veil.

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Designer: Noel Stewart. Dress by Tamara Ralph. 
Previously Worn: this hat is new

Prince Albert and Princess Charlene of Monaco:  Princess Charlene topped her pale suit (love the pearl floral buttons!) with a sleek beret percher hat simply trimmed with a knotted bow at the side. The hat looks to be covered in the same barely-blush hue as the suit.

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Designer: Philip Treacy
Previously Worn: This hat is new

King Willem Alexander and Queen Máxima of the Netherlands: Queen Máxima wore a structural white straw saucer hat with brim extension and flying bow. The vertical design of the hat pairs so beautifully with the exquisite applique lace cutout on the bodice of her dress.

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Designer: Philip Treacy. Dress by Jan Taminiau
Previously Worn: This hat is new

King Philippe and Queen Mathilde of Belgium: Queen Mathilde topped a caped pink dress with an ivory straw saucer hat with extended windowpane brim that folds downward in a sharp edge.

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Designer: dress by Armani Prive.
Previously Worn: This hat is new

King Felipe and Queen Letizia of Spain: Queen Letizia wore the largest hat we’ve seen her in to date, a design in natural hued straw with mushroom brim and button crown, draped in an overlay of widely woven (I think it’s vintage?) bubblegum pink net veil. It’s a dramatic design for Letizia and so wonderful to see her experimenting with new millinery shapes.

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Designer: Balel Millinery. Suit by Carolina Hererra. 
Previously Worn: This hat is new

His Majesty The Yang di-Pertuan Agong XVI and Her Majesty Raja Permaisuri Agong of Malaysia

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Queen Anne-Marie, Crown Prince Pavlos and Crown Princess Marie-Chantal of Greece: Queen Anne-Marie wore a navy bandeau headpiece trimmed with a pair of navy silk bows. Crown Princess Marie-Chantal topped her ice blue Mary Katrantzou dress with a coordinating Philip Treacy percher hat trimmed with a monochrome multi-looped bow on the side.

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His Majesty Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, Asantehene, King of the Ashanti Kingdom and Lady Julia Osei Tutu

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Her Majesty Margareta and Prince Radu of Romania: Margareta wore a cornflower blue silk covered percher with feather mount trim. While it coordinates well with her ensemble, unfortunately, it has some some visible construction issues.

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Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary of Denmark: Crown Princess Mary was head to toe in regal purple, her ensemble crowned by a pleated bandeau headpiece with birdcage tulle veil.

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Designer: bespoke Jane Taylor. Coat dress by Soren Le Schmidt 
Previously Worn: This hat is new

Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden wore a klein blue silk covered domed pillbox with bow at the back.

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Designer: Tim Martenson. Dress by Pär Engsheden. Styling by Tina Torn
Previously Worn: This hat is new

Hereditary Prince Alois and Hereditary Princess Sophie of Liechtenstein: Princess Sophie echoed the sleek lines of her dress and coat with a straw beret percher hat in the same orchid purple. The hat is simply trimmed with a straw twist.

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Designer: Philip Treacy
Previously Worn: This hat is new

Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway: Princess Mette-Marit wore a pink pillbox hat with birdcage veil.

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Designer: bespoke Jane Taylor. Dress by Peter Dundas
Previously Worn: This hat is new

Foreign Minister of Oman, Sayyid Badr Albusaidi and Crown Prince of Oman, Theyazin bin Haitham

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I know many of your have been waiting for this- which hats stood out most to you?

Images from Getty as indicated 

January’s Extras

On  Friday, January 13, the funeral of Maximilian, Margrave of Baden saw numerous royal guests, mainly from German royal houses.

Row 1: Valerie Margravine of Baden, StephanieMargravine of Baden, Princess Caroline
Row 2: Princess Sibilla, Princess Ekaterina of Hanover, Princess Sarvath of Jordan, Princess Mahkameh zu Schaumburg-Lippe
Row 3: Princess Sophie of Liechtenstein, Princess of Prussia, Countess Bettina Bernadotte & Philipp Haug
Row 4: Princess Katharina of Hohenzollern; Princess Ursula of Bavaria, Floria of Hesse, Sumaya bint al-Hassan

Zara and Mike Tindal attended the Magic Millions Raceday on Saturday, January 14. Zara wore a lovely mint straw beret percher with Swarovski crystal trimmed sinamay bow and quills by Australian milliner Meg Rafter. Her look was styled by Kimberly Gardner.



On Thursday January 19, Princess Hisako wore a new hat covered in ivory silk floral jacquard with jaunty upturned brim and an aqua hatband.

On Friday, Empress Masako repeated a pale greige hat with cafe au lait hatband for an annual Imperial Guard inspection

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Princess Anne in warm fur hats Wednesday on a visit to Estonia and yesterday for a walk to church at Sandringham.
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Princess Akiko attended a flower exhibition Friday in a grey hat with upfolded brim on one side. On Friday, Princess Hisako wore a jaunty purple felt hat with feather trim for a tableware festival.

On Saturday, Zara Tindall wore a bead embroidered peacock blue velvet headpiece by Jess Collett to Festival Trials Day at Cheltenham Racecourse.

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The following new millinery designs caught my eye recently (see the comments for more):


There was a glittering royal wedding recently in Brunei.

There are been other noteworthy royal events and beautiful hats to admire- please share your highlights in the comments.

 

Images from social media as indicated 

 

Funeral of Queen Elizabeth II: Royal Guests

The state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II yesterday was attended by numerous other monarchs and royal guests.

Queen Margrethe of Denmark

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King Carl Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden

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King Harald and Queen Sonja of Norway

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King Abdullah and Queen Rania of Jordan

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Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa of Luxembourg

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Prince Albert and Princess Charlene of Monaco

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King Willem-Alexander, Queen Máxima and Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands

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King Philippe and Queen Mathilde of Belgium

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Designer: Fabienne Delvigne

King Philippe and Queen Letizia of Spain

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Designer: Cherubina

King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia of Spain

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Designer: Miguel Marzo y Jesús Díaz

Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako

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His Majesty Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah of Malaysia and Her Majesty Raja Permaisuri Agong Tunku Hajah Azizah Aminah Maimunah Iskandariah of Malaysia

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Emir of Kuwait, Sheikh Faisal Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah

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Her Majesty Margareta, Custodian of the Romanian Crown and Prince Radu

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Queen Anne-Marie and Crown Princess Marie-Chantal of Greece

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Prince Alois of Liechtenstein and Princess Sophie of Liechtenstein (followed by King Letsie III of Lesotho)

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Prince Hassan bin Talal and Princess Haya of Jordan

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Princess Sarvath al-Hassan of Jordan
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Sheikha Amna bint Mohammed Al Thani of Qatar

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Prince Moulay Rachid of Morocco
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Prince Alexander and Princess Katherine of Serbia

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The late Duke of Edinburgh’s family, Hess and Baden descendants of Philip’s late sisters.

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Hats worn to the State Funeral of Queen Elizabeth: Family Members

Hats worn to the State Funeral of Queen Elizabeth: Extended British Royal Family 

Hats worn to the State Funeral of Queen Elizabeth: Noble and Notable Guests

Monaco Royal Wedding: Guests from Non-Reigning Royal Houses

We wrap up our week-long look at the hats worn to Prince Albert and Princess Charlene’s religious wedding on July 2, 2011 with those worn by guests from non-reigning royal houses.

Empress Farah wore a pleated turban in the same lime green silk as her jacket and dress that tied at the back in a bow. It was a very coordinated look with subtle contrast provided by the use of both matte and shiny sides of the fabric twisted together and narrow fringe on the bottom of the back bow’s tie.

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Princess Marina of Savoy wore a picture hat in layered navy and black straw, sharply raised on one side and simply trimmed with a slim black straw hatband. The layered straw gives an interesting effect, merging the two colours surprisingly well, especially with the top layer of the straw brim cut shorter than the bottom navy layer to give some lightness to the design around the outer brim’s edge. On its own the hat was great. It’s the pairing with this feather-hemmed, bedazzled, cocktail-all-the-way dress that gives me issue. It’s a dress that simply doesn’t suit a hat.

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Marina’s daughter-in-law, Princess Clotilde, paired her ruffle trimmed scarlet dress with an oversize flower headpiece in black silk. While the black accessories work with the dress, I’d have preferred a sleeker percher hat to provide a more streamlined counterpoint for the statement dress.

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Princess Camilla of Bourbon-Two Sicilies is well known for her dramatic sartorial choices and attended this event in the ultimate (most literal? cheesiest?) symbol of love. Her large heart-shaped hat was covered in the same pink silk as her outfit, emphasized with the same magenta handpainted ombre effect as on the collar of her jacket. Well known to be one of Prince Albert’s closest friends, I always wondered if Camilla’s pink statement of love was directed at the unfortunate rumours that plagued the run up to this event… or if this was always her plan. My guess is the latter. Either way, it was quite a hat.

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Maria Margarita de Bourbon, Duchess of Anjou, paired her beautifully embellished grey dress with a statement hat in slightly lighter grey straw. The design was lavishly trimmed with grey silk oversize roses and crystal studded cut feathers placed below the brim of the saucer’s raised side.

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Princess Micaëla of Orleans wore a warm tan-hued raffia sun hat with wide, pleated brim from the Madagascar Hat Company. A twisted sash hatband in the same magenta silk as her skirt was added to the hat, presumably to link the ensemble together.

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The Duchess of Bragança paired her pale blue silk suit with a simple ecru straw hat with flat crown and upturned kettle brim.

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Crown Princess Margarita of Romania was a sunny vision in yellow with wide brimmed hat. The design, by Romanian milliner Kristina Dragomir, featured a shallow, flat crown and gently downcurved brim and was trimmed with a yellow silk hatband and swath of dotted veil wrapped around the crown and tied in a bow across the back. I’m not always a fan of one-colour looks but this shade of yellow is so happy and well suited to Margarita (and successfully grounded by the cream accessories and pearl jewellery) that I can’t help but like it.

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Crown Princess Katherine of Serbia paired her ice blue silk beaded dress and jacket with a feminine headpiece of large white and blue ombre flower petal ruffles trimmed with loops of blue tube crin. I can see how the headpiece linked with her ensemble and I love the unconventional design but I think a less fussy piece (anything that didn’t look like layered cabbage leaves) would have been a better option.

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Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna of Russia wore a tall, peaked Kokoshnik-style headpiece in the same floral silk as her dress. Maria’s committment to this traditional Russian millinery shape is admirable (she has worn the shape many times over the years) but this particularly combination of headpiece and dress (with those drapery-esque sleeves) was a LOT of look.

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Princess Sophie of Isenburg, who would marry Prince Georg Friedrich of Prussia a month later, paired her colorful couture dress and jacket with an equally vibrant headpiece. Built on a pale beigey-pink silk abaca bandeau with swishy curving edge, the headpiece was trimmed with a birdcage veil, an over-arc of black burnt feathers and a trio of blue, caramel and pink flower feathers on the side. There are countless reasons not to like the headpiece with the ensemble that I continue to ignore, simply because it was of the few ensembles at this event that felt free and fun.

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Stephanie, Hereditary Princess of Baden, wore a giant ivory silk chiffon rose headpiece with petal edges tinged in pink. I love a millinery statement but this this one was dulled by her ‘whole lot of biscuit’ ensemble. Princess Ursula of Bavaria, on the other hand, played up her black straw bow headpiece with feathers, pairing it with a black and white suit. The feather work on this headpiece is worth a second look- a fantastic dahlia flower of black and white striped goose biot feathers with a red center was surrounded by dotted pheasant feathers with a firework display of black coque feathers shooting around the top and side.  Yes, it’s dated now but I still love its bold design and scale.

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Princess Virginia von Fürstenberg, who had been a longtime friend and companion to the widowed Prince Rainier, topped her navy silk dress and scarf and lace jacket with a shiny straw cloche hat in the same colour. The design was simply trimmed with a navy hatband and wide binding around the extended brim.

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That wraps up our look at the Monaco royal wedding nine years ago, and the 44 royal hats and headpieces that attended its multi-day celebration. Which hats in this last group stand out to you most? Which overall royal hat at this event was your favourite?

Jump to this post for an index of other royal hats that appeared at this wedding. 

Photos from Getty as indicated 

Monaco Royal Wedding: Guests from Belgium, Luxembourg and Liechtenstein

We continue our look back at the July 2, 2011 religious wedding of Prince Albert and Princess Charlene with hats worn by guests from the royal houses of Belgium, Luxembourg and Liechtenstein.

Queen Paola topped a sparkly grey ensemble with a matching picture hat trimmed with pleated silk abaca draped over the crown and fanned out around the brim. I’m all for creative trims on hats and while I like the texture this silk abaca lends to the look, it’s not entirely harmonious with the hat (was it plonked on top because the hat needed ‘something’?) or with the overall ensemble.

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Designer: Fabienne Delvigne

Princess Mathilde topped her streamlined purple cape collar dress with an equally sleek charcoal straw percher hat with flying bow. It was such a sophisticated look for Mathilde, the grey accessories beautifully contrasting with the purple frock, her fantastic hairstyle perfectly showing off the hat, and the silver sparkle of the hat’s straw metallic weave linking wonderfully with her waterfall diamond brooch. Très chic.

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Designer: Philip Treacy. Dress by Armani

Princess Astrid made a strong millinery statement in an oversize cloche hat in natural straw with tall, rounded crown and extended, mushroom shaped brim edged in fringe.  The exaggerated shape was a little awkward, but I think it was the hat’s fringe, which matched her pale green Chanel bouclé suit, that took it over the top. It was a haute couture look for certain but was it attractive? I’m not sure.

Designer: likely Maison Michel

Princess Claire also wore a hat with exaggerated natural straw brim, but to greater success. Along with the wide cartwheel brim, her romantic picture hat featured a pillbox-shaped crown with flat top and sides covered in pink silk and a playful pink silk sash sewn free-form on one side. The sash is one of the unexpected but prettiest trims I’ve seen on a picture hat and the hat, along with Claire’s retro-styled jacket and full-skirted frock was another one of my favourite ensembles at this event. It was just so, so lovely.


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Designer: Fabienne Delvigne

Grand Duchess Maria Teresa sparkled in a headpiece of spiky silver metallic dahlia flowers with silver pearl centers and cut grey feathers. It was a sassy design that suited Maria Teresa really well but that may have been better matched with a different outfit. Maybe a more vibrant dress? Maybe with less competing sparkle? I think disco ball jackets might be best reserved for after dark.

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Designer: unknown. Dress and jacket by Elie Saab. 

Princess Sophie of Liechtenstein paired her blue silk dress and coat with a wide brimmed straw saucer. These extended saucers continue to be an interesting, smoothly curvy take on a picture hat (thanks Philip Treacy!) and the a wider transparent brim on this design brought lovely lightness around Sophie’s face. Like the Grand Duchess, I think some colour variation would bring some welcome contrast here- the little bit of cream from the scarf at her shoulder and belt aren’t enough to save the ensemble from being too blue. Change out the hat for ecru straw instead of blue and I think we’d have had a winner here.

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Designer: Philip Treacy

How do you think these looks, and in particular, these hats, fare nine years on?

Jump to this post for an index of other royal hats that appeared at this wedding. 

Photos from Getty as indicated; Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images; Bauer Griffin; SIPA