Tag Archives: Queen Sonja

This Week’s Extras

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Royal Hats

Thanks to reader Avery who forwarded this report of Princess Hisako of Takamado in a sweet straw hat to open a Dali exhibition earlier this month (News 24)

The Belgian Royal Family spoted cycling through Brussels last weekend for national Car Free day

Queen Sonja in a smart rain cloche to host an outdoor movie premiere in the palace garden with 12,000 guests. (Royal House of Norway). This event, which concluded King Harald and Queen Sonja’s silver jubilee celebrations, featured Erik Poppe’s Oscar nominated movie “King No” about King Haakon and the German invasion of Norway in 1940  You can read more about the film here or watch the trailer here.  

The Duke of Kent is also visiting Canada and looked most handsome in a kilt and tam yesterday in Brampton, Ontario

 

 Royal Hats

The Countess of Wessex’s blog about her amazing fundraising ride from Edinburgh to London is a great read that you shouldn’t miss (British Royal Family)

Excellent feature (with photos and considerable video) on Prince William’s work, work environment and colleagues (BBC)

And speaking of the Cambridges- they are due to arrive in my part of the world this afternoon. Here is their detailed itinerary for the coming week (Government of Canada). Before you get your hopes us- this will be a fairly informal tour and I don’t expect to see Kate in anything more formal that a fishing hat.

Norwegian Royals on State Visit to Finland

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King Harald and Queen Sonja of Norway were welcomed at the Finnish Presidential Palace in Helsinki today by President Sauli Niinistö and Jenni Haukio to start a three-day state visit.

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For the official welcome and visit to Parliament, Queen Sonja repeated the navy straw hat she first wore in May this year. Today’s outing gave us a better look at this piece which features a slightly domed crown and upturned brim edged in wide ecru silk ribbon. The ecru silk edging and darker hat band are my favourite elements on this hat as they provide wonderful contrast that works so well with Queen Sonja’s striped jacket (interestingly, a different striped navy and ecru jacket than she wore with the hat last time).
Queen Sonja, September 6, 2016 | Royal Hats    Queen Sonja, September 6, 2016 | Royal Hats
While the hat looks great in side profile above, from the front view, I don’t think the shape, scale and placement work. When the upturned brim is tilted back on Sonja’s head, the proportion of the hat optically shrinks leaving a too small hat that looks borrowed from a children’s sailor costume.
Queen Sonja, September 6, 2016 | Royal Hats
Designer: unknown
Previously Worn: May 25, 2016 
Queen Sonja’s second ensemble of the day included a cafe-au-lait coloured pillbox which matched a wonderful laser cut leather jacket. The mix of modern and retro styles here is so unexpectedly fun and while the pillbox takes back seat to the jacket, it works because the ensemble works so well together. It’s difficult to tell from this photo what the hat is made of but I really, really hope it’s also leather.
Queen Sonja, September 6, 2016 | Royal Hats
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Designer: unknown
Previously Worn: I believe this hat is new
Today’s first day of the state visit to Finland had both a millinery hit and a millinery miss for me- what is your assessment?
Photos from Getty as indicated; Vessa Moilanen via Getty; Lise Åserud/NTB scanpix via The Royal House of Norway; Jenni Gästgivare via Iltalehti

Norwegian Silver Jubilee

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The Norwegian Royal Family gathered in Trondheim today to celebrate the 25th anniversary of King Harald and Queen Sonja’s reign (see a clip of their consecration 25 years ago today, here). This morning, the family attended a service of thanksgiving at Nidaros Cathedral  Queen Sonja wore a new hat for the occasion, a simple white straw modified boater style with flat crown and brim.

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The hat’s trimming is very restrained with just slim cords of wired straw placed across the front and a simple white hat band. With Sonja’s white dress and coat, the hat makes for a very streamlined ensemble. A little stark, maybe, but she certainly stood out and I think it’s a very elegant look for her.Queen Sonja, June 23, 2016 | Royal Hats

Designer: unknown
Previously Worn: this hat is new

Crown Princess Mette-Marit topped a new pale blue suit with an aqua net veil headpiece, worn entirely over her face. While I don’t understand the appeal of looping a scrap of net behind one’s ears like an giant surgical mask for ANY occasion (much less such a momentous one), the subtle colour contrast between the two pieces is a nice touch. That’s the only good thing I can find to say about this… thing.

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Designer: Jennifer Behr. It is the Violette Headband
Previously Worn: this headpiece is new

Princess Märtha Louise repeated the pale pink layered feathers and a net tulle veil fascinator she wore to King Carl Gustaf’s birthday celebration earlier this spring. It’s not my favourite of designs but it worked well, particularly paired with her pink and gold dress.

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Designer: unknown
Previously Worn: April 30, 2016

As pictured above, the Behn girls, Princess Ingrid and Prince Svere attended in national folk costume.

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Princess Astrid wore one of my favourite hats of the day, a turquoise straw casque/beret adorned with embroidered silk ribbon flowers. Not only is the colour spectacular on her, the hat’s embellishment is wonderfully unique. We don’t often see embroidered hats and bringing an almost forgotten technique such as ribbon embroidery into millinery design is a stroke of brilliance.  The hat has a decidedly retro feel (I’m sure some of you will have stories about similar hats you remember from the 1960s) but still feels modern and fresh, which makes it all the more perfect for Princess Astrid today.

Embed from Getty Images Embed from Getty Images

Designer: unknown
Previously Worn: I believe this hat is new

Today’s festivities concluded with a more informal Garden Party for 600 guests, held at the royal residence, Stiftsgården. The dress code included festive Midsummer floral wreathes on all female members of the family.

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This is certainly not an adornment we often see on royal heads but certainly fit the informal feel of this part of the day’s celebration and it does look downright celebratory. Floral wreathes go hand in hand with eyelet lace prairie dresses and the Crown Princess seemed to be in her element here- I can’t remember her ever looking so happy in a headpiece!
Embed from Getty Images Embed from Getty Images Embed from Getty Images Embed from Getty Images Embed from Getty Images Embed from Getty Images Embed from Getty Images Embed from Getty Images
Norwegian Royal Family, June 23, 2016 | Royal Hats
It has been a long while since we have seen so many Norwegian royal hats and headpieces together- what did you think of the designs we saw in Trondheim today?
Photos from Getty as indicated and Lise Åserud / NTB scanpix via The Royal House of Norway

Norwegian Monarchs Begin Silver Jubilee Tour

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On Saturday, King Harald and Queen Sonja kicked off a ten-day tour along the Norwegian coast to celebrate the Silver Jubilee of their reign. The first day saw them visit Tromsø where the royal couple hosted an informal garden party at the castle Skansen. Queen Sonja joined in the carnival atmosphere in her repeated ivory wool beret with grommet detail.

Queen Sonja, June 18, 2016 | Royal Hats  Queen Sonja, June 18, 2016 | Royal Hats

Queen Sonja, June 18, 2016 | Royal Hats

Designer: unknown
Previously Worn: April 7, 2015
Yesterday the couple moved on to Bodo where their Jubilee was combined with celebrations for the town’s 200th anniversary. The royal couple hosted another informal garden party where Queen Sonja wore a simple red wool beret.
Queen Sonja, June 19, 2016 | Royal Hats
The final event of the day saw Queen Sonja open the “Emperor trail”, a hiking path from Bodo up to a lookout on a nearby mountain created for this anniversary year. Ever practical, she changed into hiking gear complete with a warm red wool sports hat.
Queen Sonja, June 19, 2016 | Royal Hats
Norwegian royal garden parties certainly have a more informal dress code than others we see! King Harald and Queen Sonja’s Jubilee tour has a decidedly casual feel and the two look to be enjoying themselves immensely so far. We will follow their tour until its completion on June 29.
Photos from Lise Åserud, NTB scanpix via The Royal House of Norway and Lise Åserud, NTB scanpix via The Royal House of Norway

Queen Sonja Opens Bergen International Festival

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Queen Sonja was in Torgallmenningen yesterday to officially open the Bergen International Festival, a two week extravaganza of music, theatre, dance and performance arts. For this event, she appeared in a new hat.
Queen Sonja, May 25, 2016 | Royal Hats

Zooming in for a closer look at this navy straw piece shows us that it has a slightly domed, straight-sided crown and a short Breton-style upturned brim. The brim is edged in a wide stripe of ecru silk piping that matches the stripes on Queen Sonja’s coat which is also used for a hatband around the base of the crown. The design is finished with a flat ecru bow at the front which is centered with a navy stripe. It’s a graphic piece clearly designed to match the coordinating striped coat and the two pieces work very well together.

Queen Sonja, May 25, 2016 | Royal HatsQueen Sonja, May 25, 2016 | Royal Hats

What do you think of Queen Sonja’s new hat?

Photos from NTB scanpix via The Royal House of Norway