Tag Archives: Queen Sonja

This Week’s Extras

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Royal Hats

Queen Sonja of Norway arrives for an engagement via bicycle in a red knit hat (Norway Today)
Princess Anne pairs a casual canvas bucket hat with a trouser suit in Australia (news.com.au)
Swedish King ready for baseball at the World Scout Foundation meetings in Switzerland (Swedish Royal Court)
Zara Phillips Tindall at the Aldon Horse Trials (Daily Mail)

Royal Hats

This week saw a number of sparkling state dinners around the world. Three young queens brought their ‘A game’ in evening finery and a crown princess we rarely see at such things made an appearance. There weren’t any hats but the royal gowns and tiaras should not be missed:

Queen Mathilde, statuesquely beautiful at a dinner with the Canadian Governor General on Monday (Getty)
Queen Máxima in the Württemberg Ornate Pearl Tiara for the first time and Queen Leitizia in exquisite black     lace for dinner with the Chilean president  (Order of Sartorial Splendor)
Princess Masako looking beautiful  at her first state dinner in more than a decade (Imperial Family of Japan)

Norwegian Royals Welcome Indian State Visit

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The Norwegian royal family welcomed the Indian President on the first state visit between the two countries today. Crown Prince Haakon met President Pranab Mukherjee and his daughter Sharmistha at the airport and accompanied them to the Palace Square, where they were received by the King, the Queen and Crown Princess Mette-Marit. Queen Sonja wore a navy blue pillbox hat in what looks to be crushed silk velvet (her tailored suit jacket was in the same fabric). The colour looked beautiful on Sonja and I really liked the placement and scale of the pillbox with her hairstyle. We have not seen this Queen in a pillbox hat in a long while and I thought it was wonderful on her today.

Embed from Getty Images Embed from Getty Images

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

Crown Princess Mette-Marit repeated her flat pale pink pillbox hat, worn nearly vertically on the back of her head. I love the side view of this hat but find the front view rather frustrating as it looks like she is not wearing a hat at all.

Embed from Getty Images Embed from Getty Images

Designer: unknown
Previously Worn: January 15, 2012; April 26, 2010

Princess Astrid repeated her orange curled fascinator. It’s a rather quirky headpiece and the unexpected nature of it makes me almost like it. Maybe.

2014-10-13 Indian state visit 4

Designer: unknown
Previously Worn: May 15, 2014

A brief video of the above photo is available here. My favourite hat today was the pillbox worn by Queen Sonja- did any hats stand out to you?

Images from Getty as indicated and Cornelius Poppe / NTB scanpix via The Royal House of Norway

Norwegian Royals Attend Opening of Parliament

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King Harald of Norway opened the 159th session of parliament yesterday with the monarch’s traditional speech from the throne. He was accompanied by Crown Prince Haakon and Queen Sonja, who repeated her black wool hat with diamond cutouts on the curled brim. The shape of this hat, close to a bowler hat, is not my favourite of shapes and something about it feels out of proportion. The brim cut outs are very creative (but successful? I’m not so sure) and I suppose that the best thing about the small brim is that it allows Sonja’s necklace to take center stage. I’m not a great fan of this hat- what do you think?

Queen Sonja, October 2, 2014 | Royal Hats Queen Sonja, October 2, 2014 | Royal HatsQueen Sonja, October 2, 2014 | Royal Hats

Designer: unknown
Previously Worn: October 2, 2011; December 10, 2009  

Photos from Terje Pedersen / NTB Scanpix via Kongehuset; and NTB Scanpix via Kongebloggen on TV2.no

Norwegian Royals Host Estonian State Visit

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The Norwegian Royal Family received Estonian president Toomas Hendrik Ilves at Palace Square this morning in Oslo. For this welcome, Queen Sonja topped her red coat with an ecru straw hat with a straight-sided, domed crown and small brim that curled up at the back of the hat. I liked the modern shape on Sonja and thought the simple hat was a good pairing for her embellished coat.

Embed from Getty Images

Designer: unknown
Previously Worn: May 12, 2011

Crown Princess Mette-Marit wore a simple navy straw pillbox hat with her navy lace Valentino coat. I liked the choice of a very simple hat with this coat although I would have preferred Mette-Marit wear it a little higher over the crown of her head.


Embed from Getty Images

The Crown Princess gave us a little insight yesterday into the origins of this hat, saying “Sent this old hat to my lovely old neighbor Mona Strand. And got 4 back!” We do not usually get such a good view of royal millinery recycling in action and it is fascinating to see the origin of the pillbox Mette-Marit wore today. The only sad note here for me is the demise of the original hat, a beautiful design that I can not find evidence of Crown Princess Mette-Marit wearing in public. Do any of you recall seeing the original hat? The four pieces resulting from this renovation seem to confirm Mette-Marit’s ‘phase’ of small hats and headpieces will continue for a while, something that disappoints me a little.

https://www.instagram.com/p/sbvx9xi0RfxiBpSdKDeJ32obP4aVSdREb1HAY0/

Designer: Mona Strand
Previously Worn: I believe today is the first public wearing of this hat. 

I am curious to hear what you think about these two lovely straw hats, dear readers, and of the hat recycling that created Crown Princess Mette-Marit’s classic pillbox.

Photos Getty and Crown Princess Mette-Marit as indicated

Spanish Royal Wedding Ten Years On: Norwegian Royals

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The Royal Hats Blog The wedding of Prince of Asturias and Letizia Ortiz Rocasolano back on May 22, 2004 was attended by every European royal house. The Norwegian royal family were led by the King Harald and Queen Sonja who topped her pink dress and printed jacket with a pink hat. This hat included an interesting dent/pleat at the top of the crown, a jauntily waved brim and folded ribbon trim on the side. While it was a rather simple and standard hat, it worked well with her ensemble to balance the busy print of her jacket. The modern shape also suited Sonja well.

  Queen Sonja, May 22, 2004 | Royal Hats  Queen Sonja, May 22, 2004 | Royal Hats

Like the Crown Princess of Sweden, Crown Princess Mette-Marit eschewed a hat in favour of a feathered headpiece. With her pinky-beige dress and jacket, however, this headpiece just wasn’t enough. The tall, wispy feathers sticking out from the back of her head appeared randomly placed and I thought the headpiece did nothing to compliment the beautiful lines of Mette-Marit’s streamlined outfit. It just didn’t work.

Crown Princess Mette-Marit, May 22, 2004 | Royal Hats  Crown Princess Mette-Marit, May 22, 2004 | Royal Hats

Princess Martha Louise’s fashion choice was characteristically bright and whimsical as she topped her bright yellow dress with a cheeky red straw cocktail hat. The hat, with a tall, upright folded bow, was trimmed with red feathers and looked quite fetching on her.  Looking back now, I think the hat was more successful than the dress although I suppose we do need to give her bonus points to Martha Louise for building her ensemble around the two colours of the Spanish flag.

Princess Martha Louise, May 22, 2004 | Royal Hats  Princess Martha Louise, May 22, 2004 | Royal Hats

The three hats worn by the ladies of the Norwegian royal family certainly reflected each of their fashion personalities but could not have been more different! Are there any that stand out to you? Stay tuned later today for the hats worn by the Dutch royals. One is going to knock your socks off.

Photos from Mark Cuthbert, Lalo Yasky,  A. Jones/J. Whatling/J. Parker/M. Cuthbert, Tim Graham,  A. Jones/J. Whatling/J. Parker/M. Cuthbert,and A. Jones/J. Whatling/J. Parker/M. Cuthbert via Getty