Tag Archives: Queen Elizabeth

Third Day of British Royal Visit to Germany

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Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh travelled to Frankfurt for a number of events yesterday on Day Three of their German visit. The Queen’s parade of new hats continued with two more designs today, again in blue and white (the official millinery colours of this visit, I suppose?!) The first hat, in the same contrasting periwinkle blue and aqua green as is used on the Queen’s coat, features a silk covered crown and straw brim (blue on the underside and aqua on top. The upturned brim of the piece is trimmed with a stripe of aqua silk around the brim and a spray of peacock feathers on the side.

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While the base shape of this hat follows the same flat crown shape of several other Angela Kelly designs, it is completely transformed by a two-colour sash placed diagonally over the right side of the crown. This simple detail radically changes the shape of the hat, adding softness, dimension and height to a style which lacks these things. The end result is an interesting piece with wonderful contrast that looks marvellous on the Queen (even more marvellous without her coat)

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Designer: Angela Kelly
Previously Worn: This hat is new
The second hat followed the form of a cloche. The crown of the hat was made of a textured, woven straw while the brim was plain, making the crown appear as it it was covered in ruffles. A silk carnation adorned the side of the hat along with red-tipped feathers which coordinated with the red treads in Her Majesty’s coat. Worn for an outdoor reception, the white ensemble made Queen Elizabeth stand out in the garden. The unusual texture of this piece intrigues me and the wonderful red feathers tip me toward liking it. You can see a full length photo of the Queen here.
Queen Elizabeth, June 25, 2015 in Angela Kelly | Royal Hats

Designer: unconfirmed
Previously Worn: This hat is new
It is not often that we get two new hats from Queen Elizabeth in a single day. What do you think of this blue and white pair?
Photos from Jens Kalaene/dpa via Corbis; and Getty as indicated

Day 2 of British State Visit to Germany

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Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh continued their state visit to Germany today with welcomes at Bellevue Palace and German Chancellery, a visit to the Technical University of Berlin and a jaunt down the Spree River. For these events, Queen Elizabeth repeated  the same white ruffled coat that she wore for her Diamond Jubilee River Pageant but paired it with a new white straw hat.

This multi-layered hat is based on a cloche-shaped crown around which is wrapped a secondary crown of doubled-over straw. The hat is completed by flat brim with a squarely upturned edge and a bow at the front center of the piece in the same fabric as the queen’s silver and gold dotted coat.

Queen Elizabeth, June 24, 2015 in Angela Kelly | Royal Hats

Queen Elizabeth has several other hats in a similar shape (see here, here and here) that I think work better than this one does. While I can overlook the bulbous crown and clunky brim on this design, I can’t get past the awkwardly twee bow. The all white ensemble does allow Her Majesty’s brooch to take centre stage but the hat, with its wide surfaces of plain white straw, falls completely flat for me. I think the ruched fabric hat she wore for the Diamond Jubilee was a better match for this coat.  What do you think of this new hat?

Designer: Angela Kelly
Previously Worn: This is a new hat

Photo from Getty as indicated and Reynaldo Paganelli/NurPhoto via Corbis

British Royals Kick Off Visit To Germany

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Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh arrived in Berlin today to begin a four-day state visit to Germany. As she usually does on foreign tours, the Queen kicked things off in a new hat. In turquoise straw, the simple shape of this hat followed the rough lines of a cloche with tall, rounded crown and short brim that curled up on one side. The trimming, however, was where simplicity ended. A wide, woven band of pleated sinamay wrapped around the crown, matched by a similar overlay in a finer pleat overlaid on the brim. A large straw loop at the side and a silk rose in the same shade of Brandeis blue as Her Majesty’s coat completed the hat.

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While I am not sure about the base shape (the crown is a twinge too high) and the silk rosette seems poorly done, the colour is lovely and the pleated sinamay overlays are a creative touch that add such softness and visual interest to the hat. This detailed piece is such a departure from the Queen’s other go-to millinery shapes and embellishments – a departure that leaves me inclined to like it. 

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 I also adore the very straightforward luggage tags on Her Majesty’s hat boxes.

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Designer: Angela Kelly. Coat and dress by Peter Enrione
Previously Worn: This hat is new
What are your thoughts on this new hat?
Photos from Getty as indicated

This Week’s Extras

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Royal Hats

Queen Silvia wore a lovely swirled aqua calot hat for this week’s Te Deum in celebration of Prince Nicolas while Crown Princess Victoria wore a small pink fascinator (Swedish Royal Court)

Queen Sonja kept warm in her ivory beret with grommets during a visit to Kjøllefjord (Royal House of Norway)

Wee Princess Leonore wore a lovely floral headpiece to celebrate mid summer (Princess Madeleine Facebook)

Queen Elizabeth repeated a much worn lilac, leaf trimmed hat by Philip Somerville at polo last weekend

Royal Hats

The Duke of Wellington hosted a black tie banquet to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo. His wife and the Duchess of Cornwall brought out their diamonds to celebrate! (Getty)

Lovely new portraits of Prince Louise, Princess Tessy and their young princes released this week (Wort via Luxarazzi)

Crown Prince Naruhito and Crown Princess Masako looked happy and relaxed on their visit to a family support centre on Tuesday (Getty)

Such fun to see the next generation of British royals enjoying each other’s company at polo last Sunday (Daily Mail)

Day Five of Royal Ascot

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Royal Hats I’m sure you will all agree that the fun of royal hat watching at the Ascot races this year has been immensely enhanced by our marvellous guest milliners Jill Courtemanche,  Christie Murray, and Fiona Mangan.  Here are their thoughts on the final royal hats we saw today on the last day of Royal Ascot

Queen Elizabeth in a repeated hat by Rachel Trevor Morgan

Jill: This is my favorite hat of the week on the queen! I love the color on her, it’s a warm shade and incredibly complimentary to her complexion. The profiled brim and angled crown are perfectly in balance and the subtle coloration in the feather trim is wonderful with her sheath. It’s a very modern hat without making too strong of a statement, perfect for the Queen of England!

Christie: You just can’t fault Rachel’s finishing. She really is incredible.  It’s quite a difficult colour to work with, I have to say that I rather Queen Elizabeth in brighter colours.  Unfortunately, with the light shining through the brim and reflecting off her (albeit gorgeous) tweed overcoat, her hair takes on some of the pastel coral colour and it’s not quite the best with her skin tone. Rachel’s feather trim really is gorgeous, wispy and feminine. She’s done a wonderful job of cutting through the heaviness of the tweed and picking up on the paisley detailing in her dress.

Royal Hats: You’re right- the feather trim does reference the Queen’s paisley dress. I hadn’t noticed that before and explains why the trim works so very well.

Fiona: I like this soft peach colour on the Queen and the Rachel Trevor Morgan hat suits her very well with a very slight sweep on the brim. Again sinamay is perfect for this time of year and the trimming on the hat is delicate and beautifully finished. Her coat, appears a little heavy for summer but not atypical of the Queen’s coats for this time of year!

Lady Helen Taylor in a new hat by Stephen Jones. It is the ‘Charisma’ design

Christie: Stephen Jones – my favourite fashion Master Milliner!  He always likes to have a bit of fun! I would love to know more about the inspiration behind this piece, I know that it would have a story that would of resonated with Lady Helen. I’d also love to know how it is meant to sit – I can’t say that I like it at this angle. I’m not the biggest fan of these colours together, and don’t think the pink sinamay is well colour matched to her jacket, which makes me think that Lady Helen has bought one a ready-to-wear design vs having a bespoke headpiece made for the occasion.

Royal Hats: While I have been crying for more colour this week, this isn’t quite what I had in mind.I admire Lady Helen’s millinery fearlessness – she often wears very quirky, creative pieces – but this hat and suit don’t jive (you can see a full length photo of Lady Helen’s ensemble here).

Jill: I adore Stephen Jones and the slight irreverence he brings to his work but this hat is not working for me. The colors in the straw work nicely with her suit but I am not sure what is happening with the ball trim on the edge or the dragonfly tucked in between the two disks and I really do not like seeing her hair between the two layers which makes me think she must be wearing it incorrectly. Even so I am not sure proper placement here would make me like it anymore, this is my least favorite hat of the week.

Fiona: What a fun and playful headpiece by Stephen Jones. The colours are quite muted but work very well with her outfit. Loving the dragonfly sandwiched between the two layers of the hat trimmed with green pearls. Think this is a brave move wearing this quirky hat so fair play to lady Helen!

I suppose it is most fitting that we end Royal Ascot 2015 with an unexpected and most unusual hat!  I can not begin to adequately express my thanks to our guest royal milliners Christie Murray, Jill Courtemanche, and Fiona Mangan.  They have made this fun week of hats an absolute delight and I thank them all for taking time from very busy weeks to contribute here.

Tomorrow, you will all have the opportunity to nominate your three favourite Ascot hats. I can’t wait to hear about what you all choose!

Photos from via Corbis; and Getty as indicated