Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden celebrates her 36th birthday today. While we do not often see this lovely young princess wear a hat, she has often donned a floral wreath for her birthday. For her 32nd birthday celebration in Borgholm in 2009 (the year she announced her engagement to her long-time love Daniel Westling), she wore this floral garland wreath. I think it captures her youth, beauty and vibrant personality so well. I just wish she also wore more hats.
Photo from Getty as indicated
Reader M.C. submitted the following hat question:
I noticed the royal little girls do not wear hats. Is there a time in their lives when they “come of age” and start wearing hats?
Great question! If you look at the current generation of younger adult royals (age 20-45), you will notice a few trends. In the Scandinavian countries (Sweden, Denmark and Norway), I was not able to find hats worn by princesses before they turned 18. I believe the first hat publicly worn by Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden was for her father’s 50th birthday celebrations in April 1996, just before she turned 19 years old.
The Spanish royal ladies wear hats very seldom (we have only seen Princess Letizia wear three hats in her decade of royal life) and the Dutch Royals have no birth princesses in this generation to review. In the Belgian royal family, Princess Astrid’s eldest daughter Princess Maria Laura was just shy of her fifteenth birthday when we first saw her don a hat for her uncle Prince Laurent’s wedding.
In Great Britain, the royal little girls start seem to start wearing hats at an earlier age. The first hat I can find Zara Phillips wearing was to Ascot in 1989 when she was eight years old (although we have no way of knowing if the hat was worn for fashion, for Ascot dress code or for sun protection). The next hat I was able to find Zara wearing was at Christmas 1994.
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Zara Philips at age 8, June 20, 1989 and age 13, December 25, 1994
There are only two birth princesses in the British Royal family in this generation- Princesses Beatrice and Princess Eugenie of York. These young girls were first seen in hats at the funeral of their aunt Princess Diana in September 1997.
From this point, the two York princesses were seen in hats at most royal family events.
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At Balmoral (age 8 & 10) with their grandparents, August 31, 1998
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Christmas at Sandringham (ages 11 and 9) December 25, 1999
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Princess Beatrice (age 13) and Princess Eugenie (age 12) attending the Queens Golden Jubilee, June 4, 2002
Lady Louise Windsor appeared publicly in her first hat last on Christmas Day 2011 when she was eight years old. It appears, however, she has not made a full transition to hat wearing as we have not seen her in a hat since then (she attended most of the Diamond Jubilee festivities last year as well as Trooping the Colour the past two years and the 60th anniversary of the Queen’s Coronation last month) I suspect Louise will start wearing hats to Christmas and Trooping the Colour on a regular basis within the few years.
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Christmas Day at Sandringham in 2011
Princess Elisabeth of Belgium (who will become Crown Princess when her parents accede the throne on July 21) will be twelve years old this fall and we will have to stay tuned for her first hat as well. I also suspect that Princess Amalia of The Netherlands, if she inherits some of her mother’s flair for fashion, will start wearing hats earlier than her contemporaries Princess Leonor of Spain, Princess Ingrid of Norway, and Princess Estelle of Sweden.
One thing is certain, M.C. – there are a few exciting years of hat watching ahead as the youngest generation of European princesses start wearing hats and find their individual millinery style! Thanks so much for submitting your question.
Photos from Crochet/Demaret/Photonews via Getty Images
Queen Silvia wore Queen Sofia’s Tiara (also known as the Nine Prong Tiara) which is way too spiky for my liking but seems to work for her. This tiara was also a great compliment to her intricately beaded pale green gown.
Photos from Getty as indicated
The Swedish Royal Family celebrated national holiday celebrations together in Stockholm yesterday.The women wore traditional Swedish costume and it looked like a marvelous day was had by everyone.
Princess Madeleine and Christopher O’Neil’s wedding festivities kick off this evening with a black-tie dinner and we’ll see everyone in their glittering wedding finery tomorrow afternoon. Like the Luxembourg Royal Wedding and the Dutch Inauguration, I’ll be blogging live and will upload photos as soon as they are available.
Photos from Getty as indicated
Banns for their marriage of Princess Madeleine of Sweden and Christopher O’Neill were published this morning in the Royal Chapel of the Royal Palace in Stockholm. After the service, guests attended a reception at the Royal Palace. Princess Madeleine wore a green satin dress with matching hair bow designed by Pär Engsheden (who designed Crown Princess Victoria’s spectacular wedding dress three years ago). It’s a bit twee for my liking.
Queen Silvia looked very elegant in a pistachio green pillbox… or so I thought. Belgian hat designer Fabienne Delvigne (who I suspect made this hat) must be trying to start a convertible hat craze because this is the second European monarch this month to wear an open topped hat (see the Grand Duchess Maria Teresa of Luxembourg here). I love everything about this hat on Silvia except the open top.
Crown Princess Victoria was very pretty in pale pink with a large fascinator pinned around her chignon. I wish we had a better view of the fascinator because it looks like it is an exquisitely detailed combination of silk flowers and lace trim. Without a good view, it is difficult to make a fair assessment but I do wonder if this headpiece, which is softly romantic, would look better with a less severe hairstyle.
Chris’ mother Eva O’Neill wore an embellished fez-shaped hat. It’s a unique shape that doesn’t rank among my favourites but paired well with her printed dress. Chris’ sister Tatjana D’Abo wore a tall ivory straw Philip Treacy cloche with huge cabbage rose.
This week, it was announced that the groom respectfully declined a royal title as he plans to continue his career as an investment consultant in New York. It appears that the couple will have a non-royal life in New York. I suspect, sadly, there will be very few occasions in future where we will see Princess Madeline wear a hat.
**NOTE** several comments about Sofia Hellqvist’s attendance at this event not been approved. Further comments along this topic will also not be approved (consider yourself warned Olivia R.) There’s plenty of other forums and blogs out there where you can discuss this young woman and her relationship with the Royal Family. For the record- all name calling and debate about who should or should not be included in royal events is not welcome here. Let’s keep it to hat love, people!
Photos from Corbis and Stella Pictures
Royal Hats 