Tag Archives: Queen Elizabeth

750th Anniversary of Westminster Abbey

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Queen Elizabeth and the Duchess of Cornwall attended service at Westminster Abbey yesterday to mark the landmark church’s 750th anniversary. pale dove grey with fuchsia trim. For this celebration, the Queen repeated her dove grey silk crepe coat and matching hat with upturned kettle brim and flat crown, trimmed with a wide fuchsia hatband and a large grey ostrich feather.

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While the colour is not my favourite on Her Majesty and I’m not convinced the feather scale is right, I’m struck by the impeccable finishing on the hat- there’s no hint of pucker or visible stitching on the brim binding. It’s beautifully made.

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Designer: Angela Kelly made by Stella McLaren. 
Previously Worn: Dec 25, 2018

The Duchess of Cornwall gave us a welcome millinery surprise, repeating a pale blue formed beret hat that hasn’t been worn in over a decade. The hat is trimmed with a cascade of blue leaves around the front of the design.

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Camilla wears so many wide brimmed hats that any change in shape or scale is a fun thing to see. This shade of blue is beautiful on her and the leaf trim gives some wonderful lift and dimension to the piece- it makes a great visual statement despite its small footprint. The hat coordinates perfectly with the applique stripes on the ensemble’s coat, making me wonder if the coat was designed specifically for this hat. If it was, we’re likely to see this hat worn more frequently, something I’ll applaud.

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Designer: Philip Treacy
Previously Worn: Dec 10, 2007

What do you think of these hats yesterday on their second outings?

Photos from Getty as indicated 

Hat From the Past

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Royal Hats to this day in 1986 and the arrival of Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh on a visit to China. The Queen donned a silk-covered brimless, domed hat with navy base, yellow top and navy silk petal trim by Ian Thomas. We don’t often see a hat’s original sketch and it’s fascinating to see an ensemble’s original idea (with TWO hat options!) against its end creation. I’m a little disappointed the feathers on the design didn’t make it on to the hat but I’m even more curious- which of these two hat designs would you have chosen for Her Majesty?!

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Photos from Getty as indicated

This Week’s Extras

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Back in September, Princess Hisako opened an exhibition at the Yokohama Museum of Art in a hat with cream straw crown and olive straw brim with interesting hatband of flattened vertical straw loops.
On Monday, Empress Masako attended the 70th anniversary of the National Rehabilitation System in a sleek, pale grey suit with matching short-brimmed hat
On Tuesday, Princess Akiko presided over national self defense awards in a repeated ecru silk-covered cloche hat with upturned kettle brim and wide hatband. The same day, Princess Mako attended the closing ceremony of the 74th National Sports Festival in Ibaraki in an ivory bowler hat variation with pale blue hatband tied in a side bow.
Prince Albert’s daughter, Jazmin Grimaldi, shared several portraits this week wearing an orange fedora.
The Duke of Gloucester sported a dapper green fedora during his visit to  Morocco last week. Today, the Duchess of Gloucester repeated a cuffed black velvet hat with silk bow and the Countess of Ulster wore a veiled pillbox for the opening of parliament today (the Earl and Countess’ son, Lord Culloden, was one of the Queen’s four pages).


Queen Elizabeth arrived for the opening of Parliament in the incredible diamond and pearl George IV Diadem she wears for this event each year (read more about it over at The Royal Collection). She chose not to wear the Imperial State Crown this year- understandable, given its heavy weight. The Duchess of Cornwall sparkled in her go-to Greville tiara (sometimes known as the Boucheron Honeycomb tiara. You can read an excellent history of this tiara here).
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The following new millinery designs caught my eye this week:
Wonderfully trimmed fedoras in camel, yellow and mustard from British brand John Boyd Millinery

Bold black and cream striped waved discs by Spanish-based British milliner Donna Hartley
Emerald button percher with statement pheasant feather trim by British brand Rebecca Couture Millinery
Beautiful hand draping on this camel felt design (proof beige isn’t always boring!) by British milliner Jane Taylor
Magenta straw bowler with silk brim and ombre ruffled trim by Australian milliner Rachel Henry
Stunning gold beaded halo bandeau headpiece with twist from Australian milliner Marilyn Van den Berg

And from Irish milliner Carol Kennelly, this utterly fantastic black percher with shooting stars.

After last Monday’s announcement that children of Prince Carl Philip and Princess Madeleine have been removed from the Royal House of Sweden (along with their HRH titles) and will be free to pursue private lives, was endorsed by both the prince and princess with sharing of new family photos.
Turns out the lovely new photos of Princess Elisabeth, one which was turned into a stamp released on her 18th birthday, were taken by her dad.
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⁣ ⁣ bpost geeft ter gelegenheid van de achttiende verjaardag van Prinses Elisabeth (25 oktober) een officiële postzegel uit. De foto werd genomen door de Koning in de tuin van het Kasteel van Laken.⁣ —————⁣ bpost émet un timbre officiel à l'occasion du dix-huitième anniversaire de la Princesse Elisabeth (le 25 octobre). La photo a été prise par le Roi dans le jardin du Château de Laeken.⁣ —————⁣ bpost issues an official stamp on the occasion of the eighteenth birthday of Princess Elisabeth (October, 25). The photo was taken by the King in the garden of the Castle of Laeken.⁣ ⁣ @bpost #bpost #postzegel #timbre #stamp #birthday #verjaardag #anniversaire #PrincesseElisabeth #PrinsesElisabeth #PrincessElisabethofBelgium #ElisabethvanBelgie #Princesse #Prinses #Princess #Elisabeth #royalty #BelgianRoyals #BelgianRoyalFamily #België #Belgique #Belgium #Brussel #Bruxelles #Brussels #BelgianRoyalPalace #MonarchieBe

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Princess Eugenie celebrated her first anniversary with this look back at her wedding

Photos from social media as indicated

Queen Opens Housing Development

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After her annual late summer vacation in Scotland, Queen Elizabeth was back at work in London today, visiting the Haig Housing Trust to officially open their new housing development in Morden for armed forces veterans and former service members. For this visit, she repeated her sky blue hat with gently curving crown and sidesweeping brim trimmed with cut green feathers, amber beaded gold sprigs and round glass beads in amber and darker blue.

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The hat’s wonderful colour and creative glass bead trim make it work. I’m less enamored with the hourglass crown shape and brim binding which seem to give the design a visual bulkiness in comparison to the coat’s crisp lapel corners (all of which are made of or covered in the same wool silk). There’s also a small wobble in the right hand side of the brim (look closely at the straw in the second photo in the bottom gallery). Finally, it seems that queen has become smaller since this coat was tailored just over a year ago- an inevitable reality in one’s 90s but one that impacts the overall look here as well.

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Designer: Angela Kelly made by Stella McLaren
Previously Worn: Feb 14, 2019; Oct 17, 2018; Aug 6, 2018

What do you think of this hat today on its fourth outing?

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Photos from Getty as indicated 

This Week’s Extras

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Last Sunday, Queen Elizabeth repeated her cornflower blue hat with black trim and spiky grey feather flower to attend Sunday morning service at Crathie Kirk. The Duchess of Cornwall repeated her tan beret with pheasant feather trim.

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Princess Hisako attended the Japan Sports Masters Tournament (for athletes over age 35) on Monday and Tuesday. Monday, she repeated a white hat with pork pie crown and wide brim edged in a black stripe with floral trim on the side. Tuesday, she wore a black straw hat with trilby-style raised back brim and wide, ecru-striped hatband. On Thursday, she repeated her ivory small brimmed, lace-covered hat with side bow for the 130th anniversary of the Japanese Red Cross Society in Gifu.. Yesterday, she wore this brimmed design to attend the Regional Traditional Performing Arts National Convention in Nara.
The Imperial emperor and empress attended the 74th National Sports Festival’s opening ceremony in Hitachinaka yesterday. Empress Masako repeated a white brimmed hat with wide royal blue silk hatband.
Queen Elizabeth was joined for church this morning in Scotland by the Snowdon family. The Queen repeated an angular lime straw cloche with navy stripe around the brim and a mass of straw leaves in the two colours on the side. The Countess of Snowdon wore a sculpted beret in a fantastic shade of saffron felt, trimmed with a gold brooch while Lady Margarita Armstrong-Jones donned a chic dark denim blue felt fedora with navy hatband.
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A new book by Angela Kelly was released today that will undoubtedly, be filled with many great looks at her designs (and hats made by Stella McLaren, the in-house milliner on Kelly’s design team). I now know what’s on the top of my Christmas wish list!

The following new millinery designs caught my eye this week:
Alpaca gives a cruelty-free and sustainable option for fur hats and this teal one from Peruvian Connection is wonderful
Red felt calot with wide ruffle and bling-y brooch trim from British brand Rebecca Couture Millinery
Very fun blue patterned pillbox hat with retro proportions by Australian milliner Karen Bailey
Loden green silk ribbon bandeau with veil from British milliner Rachel Trevor Morgan
Love unexpected coral and burgundy scheme of this straw brimmed design by Dutch milliner Myra van de Korput
Ivory felt sculpted hat with crown of folded swirls trimmed with crystals by Israeli milliner Orit Aviezer
From Stephen Jones’ new spring 2020 collection, this gravity-defying black hat with crisp white stripes

And these two green beauties from British milliners- first, from  Dorothy Morant, a hand blocked cloche in printed felt with extended brim and stunning pleated velvet ribbon trim (clearly, the Downton Abbey movie is on my mind) and second, from Carrie Jenkinson, this emerald felt saucer percher with amazing half pinwheel of statement twists.


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Something green 🤔🤔🤔

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It was so lovely to become better acquainted with this new, very sweet royal face this week
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Prince Harry took a poignant walk in Angola down the same path his mother walked, 22 years ago.
We end the week with the Dutch king, clearly enjoying his visit today to the Motocross of Nations at the TT Assen
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Photos from social media as indicated

Hat From the Past

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Royal Hatsto the early 1980s and this blue cloche with darling butterfly trim. While we see LOTS of feathers and flowers trimming royal millinery, there are surprisingly few butterflies.

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Hat From the Past

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Royal Hats to thirty-one years ago this week and a state visit to Brunei where Queen Elizabeth wore a large blue hat with woven brim and braided straw trim by Frederick Fox. We usually associate this familiar hat with the Queen’s Golden Jubilee celebrations in 2002 but this piece actually made its first appearance, four years earlier.

September 18, 1998 in Brunei: 

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June 4, 2002 for the Golden Jubilee Service of Thanksgiving at St. Paul’s Cathedral:

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On display at the 2003 “Hats And Handbags” exhibition at Kensington Palace:

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Photo from Getty as indicated