Tag Archives: Queen Sonja

Norwegian Royals Celebrate King Olav V

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Members of the Norwegian Royal Family gathered on Sunday at Oslo’s City Hall Square for the dedication of a statue of King Olav V (father of present King Harald and Princess Astrid). For the event, Queen Sonja topped her ecru dress and coat with a hat in the same hue. A simple straw piece with a straight-sided, domed crown and short brim brim gently curved down in front and up at the back, the hat was trimmed only with a wide silk ribbon around the crown.  While not the most exciting of hats, it combined well with her coat, dress and gold jewellery to create an elegant ensemble.

Queen Sonja, June 7, 2015 | Royal Hats Queen Sonja, June 7, 2015 | Royal Hats Queen Sonja, June 7, 2015 | Royal Hats

Designer: unknown
Previously Worn: September 2, 2014;  May 12, 2011

Princess Astrid’s hat, while small in stature, showed considerably more personality. The creamy yellow bumper was lavishly trimmed with an explosion of white feathers at the back and a swath of dotted net veil that covered the main body of the piece. It is a piece that works well with Astrid’s short hairstyle and shows a cheeky sense of millinery humour. After sadly loosing her husband this year, it is wonderful to see Princess Astrid looking so well.

Princess Astrid, June 7, 2015 | Royal Hats   Princess Astrid, June 7, 2015 | Royal Hats

Designer: unknown
Previously Worn: May 8, 2015

Crown Princess Mette-Marit continued her trend of minimal hat wearing with a slim beaded gold headband in lieu of a hat. while it is a nice enough piece, a hat most certainly is not. I also thought the intricate detail of the headband was lost against her finely embroidered Valentino coat. In this case, I think she might have done better following Princess Maertha Louise’s lead and forgoing a hat altogether.

Princess Mette-Marit, June 7, 2015 | Royal Hats   Princess Mette-Marit, June 7, 2015 | Royal Hats

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

It is always wonderful to see royal families together for special engagements and while the hats were not plentiful, it appears that the Norwegian royals had an enjoyable day.

Photos from Getty as indicated 

Queen Sonja Opens Music Festival

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Yesterday morning, Queen Sonja officially opened the annual two-week Bergen Festival of music and theatre. For the opening ceremony, which included several performances from the festival program, she wore a magenta coat and matching pillbox hat. Bright pink can be exceptionally difficult to photograph and I hope it is a photo glitch causing the slight difference of colour between the hat and the coat. If not, I’m afraid I have to take a pass on this ensemble.

Queen Sonja, May 27, 2015 | Royal Hats

Queen Sonja, May 27, 2015 | Royal Hats

Queen Sonja, May 27, 2015 | Royal Hats

Designer: unknown
Previously Worn: I believe this hat is new. The last time we saw this coat, it was paired with a different hat. 

I’m usually fairly forgiving on slightly variations of shade within an ensemble but in this case, I think a closer match was needed. What do you think, dear readers- is this match close enough for you?

Photo from Marit Hommedal / NTB scanpix via The Royal House of Norway; Brendan Donnelly/Demotix and Brendan Donnelly/Demotix via Corbis

Norwegian Royals Celebrate National Day

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Members of the Norwegian royal family celebrated their national holiday yesterday with an annual appearance on the balcony of The Royal Palace in Oslo. While Crown Prince Haakon sported a traditional top hat, Crown Princess Mette-Marit stepped out in a small cocktail hat we have not seen her wear in a long while. Built on flat disc base, this navy piece is all about its trimmings- a large navy cabbage rose, multiple bow loops and a net tulle. This is a larger piece than Mette-Marit has worn recently- I welcome the larger scale and celebrate the beautiful detail but struggle with the placement. In the end, I’m afraid it looked like she was wearing one half of a pair of very fancy earmuffs.

Designer: I believe it is Philip Treacy
Previously Worn: December 10, 2006; June 6, 2006; 2006

Queen Sonja also used this occasion to début a winter white wool fedora simply trimmed with a slim, knotted band around the base of the crown. We don’t often see Sonja in fedoras and I think it’s a great shape for her. Great shape aside, there is something bland about this hat (the colour? the lack of embellishment? the pairing with this coat?) that makes it less classic and more boring for me.

Designer: unknown
Previously Worn: This hat is new

What did you think of these two new hats in Norway yesterday?

Photos from Getty as indicated

Dutch and Norwegian Royals Open Joint Exhibition

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Princess Beatrix joined and Queen Sonja in Oslo yesterday morning to open the exhibition “VanGogh + Munch” at the Munch Museum. For this joint engagement, she wore a charcoal grey metallic hat with flat brim and wide, upright band around the crown. The band gave the hat a slight hourglass shape and neatly concealed a pyramid-shaped crown. Princess Beatrix carries oddly shaped hats better than most but when it comes to these pyramid shaped crowns, I think concealment is best.

 Princess Beatrix, May 8, 2015 | Royal Hats    Princess Beatrix, May 8, 2015 | Royal Hats

Designer: unknown. My guess is Emy Hill
Previously Worn: unconfirmed

Queen Sonja used this occasion to début a new turquoise suit and matching hat. The wool hat, a rounded version of a pillbox, was simply trimmed with a wide monochrome stripe and back bow, presumably in the same fabric as Sonja’s peplum jacket and skirt. I would prefer the lines on this pillbox to be sharper (it’s headed far too close to helmet territory) but the colour is wonderful and I’m happy to see Queen Sonja veer away from her go-to bowlers and cloche hats. 

   Queen Sonja, May 8, 2015 | Royal Hats    Queen Sonja, May 8, 2015 | Royal Hats

Queen Sonja, May 8, 2015 | Royal Hats

Designer: unknown
Previously Worn: I suspect this is a new hat

It’s always fun to see joint royal engagements where those involved are clearly enjoying their time together. What did you think of this pair of hats yesterday in Oslo?

Photos from ANP, Dagbladet and NTB Scanpix via The Royal House of Norway

British Royal Wedding Four Years On: European Royal Guests

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A wedding  Our look back at the marvellous royal hats worn at the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge four years ago now moves from family members to royal guests. First up is hats worn by guests from the reigning royal houses of Europe.

The Norwegian Royals (who are cousins to the British Royal family) were represented by the King and Queen. Queen Sonja thoughtfully turned to British hat makers Lock and Co. for her hat. In white straw and trimmed with a simple curled white feather, the ceterpiece of this hat was its lattice brim which was folded up over the crown. The resulting shape was a modern departure for Sonja but it looked wonderful on her.

Queen Margrethe of Denmark topped her Twitter blue wool coat with a brimless calot hat covered in the same fabric. The calot was trimmed in a  band of the same patterned blue silk fabric as her dress over which several spiky, spiralled feathers were placed. The hat is a characteristically quirky piece for Margrethe and I thought she wore it well. The overall ensemble, however, was an overkill of the same blue fabric and needed breaks in both colour and texture.

Grand Duchess Maria Teresa topped her slate blue dress and jacket with a large dove grey picture hat trimmed with a single, oversize blue ombre rose. The hat is a beautiful one and while I covet it for my own millinery closet, I don’t think it was the right choice for Maria Teresa. Both her suit and the hat seemed to dwarf the Grand Duchess, which was most unfortunate.

The Spanish Royals seldom wear hats and this wedding provided us an opportunity to see their millinery style. Queen Sofia chose a light fascinator to in the same shade as her Margarita Nuez lavender silk suit. Made of layered organza and net tulle, the headpiece was studded with the same periwinkle blossoms that formed the floral pompom buttons on her jacket. The Princess of Asturias (as was her title then) topped her Felipe Varela embroidered pink 1930s inspired dress with a coordinating cloche hat. Designed by Pablo Y Mayaya, the cloche hat was a great scale and colour for Letizia. I’m afraid, however, it suffered from over-trimming. With four kinds of feathers (including large pheasant ones). a wide ruched sash around the crowd, a net tulle veil, rosettes and even bits of appliqué lace, this small hat held everything but the kitchen sink and suffered for it.

Princess Máxima (who was not yet Queen) was the picture of refined elegance in a pale pink lace Valentino suit and a silk calot hat designed by Fabienne Delvigne. Head-to-toe ensembles in pale pink risk looking rather boring and flat but the different textures of lace and draped silk created a look that was as interesting as it was harmonious. The artfully ruched silk on the hat gave it a wonderful sense of movement despite its small footprint. The addition of diamond star brooches to the side of the calot gave it a touch of glamour and we now all associate with Máxima and I adore her for adding this bling.

Princess Mathilde (who also was not yet Queen) chose teal blue for her ensemble. Her Armani dress and jacket was crowned with a large picture hat by Philip Treacy. A similar shape to the navy hat worn by Lady Frederick Windsor, this piece featured a wide round brim, moulded crown and vertical looped Treacy signature bow. While I loved the colour on Mathilde, the impact of the wonderful hat was lost against her overly shiny suit.

Crown Princess Victoria followed the pattern of head-to-toe in a single colour, choosing cantaloupe orange for her ensemble. Her large straw picture hat, designed by Swedish milliner  Britta von Koenigsegg, was a welcome departure from the smaller fascinators Victoria usually favours and it looked great on her. This shade of orange is one of the more difficult colours to wear and while Victoria she managed it well, I think the overall ensemble is just too peachy for me.

Rounding out this group of European royals was Charlene Wittstock (just two months later, she would become Princess of Monaco). Her palest-of-pale bluey grey straw picture hat featured a low, rounded crown and gently waved wide brim. With her Akris coat and pearl earrings, the hat made for an extremely elegant and refined ensemble.  High collared coats and picture hats can be a tricky combination but the rounded, slightly open neck on this coat and the easy movement of the hat made for such a perfect compliment.

As we might have expected, the European royals wore wonderful hats to this wedding. Whose hat did you admire?
Photos from Getty as indicated