My thanks to reader Jimbo, for researching and organizing photos for this post.
As head of the Commonwealth, Queen Elizabeth has, since the late 1990s, attended the Commonwealth Day Service with members of her family held annually on the second Monday in March at Westminster Abbey. While the global pandemic cancelled this year’s service, let’s look back at all the hats she has worn to this event over the years:
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1972, 1976 (see colour image here), 1982, 1983 and 1985 (see colour image here)
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1989 (see colour image here), 1991, 1996 and 1997; 1998 – 2001
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2003, 2004 and 2005; 2006 through 2009
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Blue bumper cloche in 2010; Peach boucle hat by Rachel Trevor Morgan in 2011; pink hat with stitched brim in 2012
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Pink Rachel Trevor Morgan hat with rose in 2014; woven cream and gold split crown design by Angela Kelly in 2015:
Blue felt Angela Kelly design with feather flowers in 2016
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Angela Kelly designs- yellow and grey in 2017 and oxblood with cherry blossoms in 2018
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Purple felt kettle brim design with burgundy flowers by Angela Kelly in 2019; blue and grey felt sidesweep with bow and feathers by Rachel Trevor Morgan in 2020
These retrospectives always give and interesting view of a royal’s evolution of millinery style. This lineup reminds me that Her Majesty embraced the early 2000s lampshade shapes (so popular at the time) more than I remembered, and how this shape quietly transitioned to the gentler sidesweeping brims that permeate her wardrobe today.
What do you notice in this lineup of hats?
Images from Getty as indicated
to April 1944 and a wonderful snap caught at an 18th birthday celebration featuring a fascinating pair of hats. Queen Mary’s usual toque is replaced here by a jaunty design with upfolded brim trimmed with large flowers on the side. Princess Elizabeth’s pleated cap with visor brim has such a ‘military uniform’ vibe that one must look twice to see it’s not such. 