Christening of Princess Estelle, Nine Years On: Royal Guests & Extended Family

t’s no surprise that Princess Estelle’s christening on May 22, 2012 was also attended by numerous royal guests and extended members of the Swedish royal family.

Queen Margrethe wore a navy straw wide-brimmed picture hat. Navy dotted white tulle overlaid the open-weave straw brim and a large flower of white feathers adored the piece on the side. The scale of the piece is such a contrast from the brimless and short-brimmed hats we’re used to seeing on the Danish queen today and while the tulle looks overly fussy to me now, it links the hat well to Margrethe’s dotted ensemble.

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Queen Mathilde (was was Crown Princess at the time, wore a layered calot hat in the same taupe silk chiffon as her skirt. It’s not an terribly exciting hat but anything with more presence likely would have competed with her elaborate beaded jacket and the overall look is certainly festive, however subdued.

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Princess Máxima, who would become queen a year later, stood out in a red suit and Fabienne Delvigne ruched turban. The turban is beautifully draped and pairs well with the modern-vintage vibe of the suit, the vibrant colour giving some much needed pep at an event that, as we’ve seen, saw so many pale and neutral ensembles. Trust Máxima to liven things up.

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Princess Märtha Louise wore a pale straw pink hat with layered raw-edge brim. The jaunty angle provided by the brim’s sidesweeping shape gave it lovely lift and that unfinished edge, echoed on the hat’s wide hatband, contrasted well with the smooth silk of Märtha’s jacket. With diamond chandelier earrings and an ecru and blush striped dress, it was a great look for her.

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As this was Countess Stéphanie de Lannoy’s first major royal event (she and Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume would marry five months later), it wasn’t a surprise that she dipped into her future mother-in-law’s closet for a hat. This grey pleated silk abaca headpiece by Fabienne Delvigne requires some millinery courage to pull off and while I wasn’t thrilled about its pairing with this grey bouclé jacket, Stéphanie still wore it well.

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The King’s sisters were all in attendance, Princess Margaretha in a grey pillbox with side bow, Princess Birgitta in a white rose fascinator and Princess Désirée in a red Garbo hat with relaxed brim. Princess Christina wore a disc headpiece in navy straw painted with white Swiss dots, edged in white binding and trimmed with navy and white feathers (see a better view of it at Crown Princess Victoria’s 40th birthday celebration here).

Princess Christina’s daughter-in-laws, Emma Magnussen, Vicky Andren and Frida Bergström were all in attendance. Emma’s navy crin headpiece featured a birdcage-style transparent brim and was studded in slim feathers. Vicky’s taupe straw hat was trimmed in a triple stacked hatband with straw flower and goose feathers on the side.

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Frida Bergström (4th row, far left) wore a loden green pillbox hat swathed in a gold dotted net veil. Also seen in the photo above are Countess Marianne Bernadott (3rd row, far left in front of Frida) in a mint green brimmed hat (see a better view at a later wearing here) and Dagmar von Arbin (4th row, 4th from left) in a purple straw pillbox studded with silk flowers (see a better view at Prince Oscar’s christening here). After the palate of very pale neutrals we saw in the first post, the brighter spring hues seen in the photo above give some welcome vibrancy to this event!

Nearly a decade on, which hats stand out most to you from this event?  To see hats worn by Princess Estelle’s family members and godparents, jump over to this post. 

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Photos from Getty as indicated; SVT and the Swedish Monarchy

Confirmation of Danish Prince

Prince Christian of Denmark was confirmed yesterday at Fredensborg Castle Church in a small service attended by close friends and family who live in the area.  

Crown Princess Mary wore a new hat for the occasion. In royal blue straw, the beret base shape is trimmed with large silk calla lily flowers and wired leaves.

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Mary placed the hat on the back of her head, leaving the flowers and leaves sweeping forward over her forehead. This placement makes sense of the long leaves – the way the leaves and flowers frame Mary’s face like a bandeau really works. The piece pairs well with her navy dotted dress to make a stylish look that doesn’t stands up well without standing out and I’m sure many of you will notice Mary’s sapphire brooch is the same one worn for Christian’s christening. I always love such sweet, sentimental touches.

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Designer: Susanne Juul. Dress by Iris & Ink
Previously Worn: This hat is new

Queen Margrethe also wore a new hat for this milestone, a bright pink beret simply trimmed with a large side twist.

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Margrethe wears vibrant colour well and after our recent look at her pink hats, it’s great to see her add another. Yes, the whole ensemble is a rather punchy hit of colour but it feels very authentic to Margrethe’s style. Like everything we’ve seen from Mathilde Førster’s studio, this hat is impeccably made- I’m unable to find a single waver or pucker on that beautifully sewn edge on the twist.

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Like many families, the event was celebrated on a smaller scale than originally planned (and held a year after originally scheduled!).  As such, it was lovely to see both Queen Margrethe and Crown Princess Mary bring a greater sense of celebration to the occasion with the debut of new hats.

What do you think of this new pair of berets yesterday in Denmark?

Images from Getty and social media as indicated

Danish Queen Opens 2021 Cruise Season

Queen Margrethe kicked off the 2021 Cruise Season on Tuesday, boarding the Royal Yacht Dannebrog and sailing from the Port of Copenhagen to the sound of the cannons from the Sixtus Battery.

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Amidst rough seas, the royal ship was welcomed by a cannon salute of 27 shots at Kronborg Castle in Elsinore.

For this first sail of the season, Queen Margrethe repeated her red felt cloche hat trimmed with a wide, dimensional, striped hatband that ties in a side bow. The pork pie shaped crown gives some variation and height to the shape which is more interesting than balanced, although the scale works well for Queen Margrethe. With her red cape, navy suit and dotted scarf, the hat tops a handsome nautical ensemble.

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Designer: likely Per Falk Hansen
Previously Worn: Sep 13, 2017; May 3, 2013 and others

Yesterday, Queen Margrethe was in Humlebaek for the inauguration of a sculpture by artist Per Arnoldi to commemorate the flight of Danish Jews to Sweden in October 1943 during World War II. For this event, she repeated her mint green fabric-covered bumper hat with side split brim curling around pair of feathers. While usually see this hat worn with a matching suit and coat, cool weather mandated its pairing with this warmer ivory coat. The contrast works so well, letting the statement brooch and green hat stand out amidst the neutral tones of the rest of the ensemble.

Designer: likely Per Falk Hansen
Previously Worn: Sep 5, 2019; May 31, 2019; June 13, 2017; Mar 28, 2017; Oct 3, 2016; Apr 30, 2016Sep 8, 2015; Jun 5, 2015May 23, 2015Apr 16, 2015

The Queen’s official boarding thus marks the start of this year’s sailing season which will include a Reunion Celebration in Southern Jutland, voyages to the Faroe Islands and Greenland and stops around Denmark in the the municipalities of Thisted, Esbjerg and Fanø.

Images from Getty and social media as indicated

Danish Royals Open Kolding Exhibitions

Queen Margrethe and Princess Benedikte were in Kolding on Friday to open two exhibitions at the Royal Collection at Koldinghus. The first exhibition ‘Christian V – King, warrior and the anointed of God” is about the 17th century king but the second, “The Queen’s Embroideries” is contemporary, showcasing Queen Margrethe’s own embroidery work.

The collection includes pillows, furniture, table linen, advent calendars, clothing and accessories, including a pair of clutch bags the Danish queen made for each of her daughter-in-laws.

For this visit, Queen Margrethe repeated the aubergine and red boater hat covered in the same fabrics as her dress and jacket.

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This is this hat’s second outing and it remains a winner, thanks to its unexpected unexpected colour scheme, excellent scale and flawless execution. And the jaunty angle the Danish queen wears it- well, that’s perfection.

Designer: Mathilde Førster
Previously Worn: Nov 27, 2020

Princess Benedikte joined her sister for this visit in a new periwinkle brimmed hat with a pink hatband. It’s a great addition to her wardrobe- Benedikte wears the classic shape well and the colour suits her well.

Designer: unknown
Previously Worn: this hat is new

Queen Margrethe and Princess Benedikte were also joined by their first cousin Count Ingolf of Rosenborg and his wife Sussie, who topped her suit with a small fascinator (see gallery below).

Back on Wednesday, Queen Margrethe opened an Auguste Rodin exhibition at the Glyptoteket museum in Copenhagen. She repeated her denim blue cloche hat with upturned brim around one side trimmed with a checked tweed hatband and side bow. It’s another fine design- Mathilde Førster’s work certainly suits the Danish queen, doesn’t it? This relatively new pairing of milliner and wearer continues to excite. 

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Designer: Mathilde Førster
Previously Worn: Oct 6, 2020; Feb 8, 2020Jan 14, 2020

These days, any royal hat we see is a welcome one- what do you think about these designs?

Images from Getty as indicated

Inventory: Queen Margrethe’s Pink Hats

We’re peeking into Queen Margrethe’s hat wardrobe today for a look at her pink hats. At the turn of the millennium there were a handful in regular use:

These are now retired, replaced by new designs added since~2009:

1.  2.  3.
Designer: unconfirmed (all are likely Per Falk Hansen)
Introduced: May 9, 2009 or earlier; Feb 16, 2010 or earlier; June 2010 or earlier 

4.  5.   
Designer: unconfirmed (both are likely Per Falk Hansen); flowers on the light pink hat by Effi Pingel
Introduced: June 26, 2015; July 15, 2017 

UPDATE: Since this post was published, Queen Margrethe has added the following pink hats:

6.
Designer Mathilde Førster 

Introduced: May 15, 2021

I’ll admit- I did not expect this inventory to be so small. When I think of the Danish queen’s style, I think bright colours and while a few of these hats meet that mark, I somehow thought she had considerably more hats in this hue. Granted, several designs I thought of as pink turned out to be red but even so…

What do you notice about Queen Margrethe’s pink hats?

Images from Kay Nietfeld / picture alliance; Georges Merillon/Gamma-Rapho, Emmanuel Dunand/AFP, Julian Parker/UK Press, Francis Dean/Corbis, Sergei Grits/AFP, Ole Jensen – Corbis/Corbis, and Ole Jensen via Getty and Corbis