Mad Hattery!

Ducking out of hiatus briefly to note that it was super nice of HM to honor couples celebrating their diamond wedding anniversary by plopping a big wedding cake on top of her noggin.  Cheers, Lil!

PHOTO: Lewis Whyld-WPA Pool/Getty Images

I've been getting tons of e-mails from some of you wondering where I am and if everything's all right -- and the answer is yes, everything's very good, but very busy!  It may be a few weeks before I'm able to devote any time to the blog again, so don't worry if you don't see me here for a while.  Work has gotten busier than ever (a good thing!), but I'm hoping that I'll be able to make it back to regular blogging before the Jubilee.  Till then, see you all soon!

-- Ella

HM and Kate teamed up again today for a visit to various sites in Leicester to kick off the Queen's Diamond Jubilee tour of the nation.  (Prince Phil was on the team, too, but for some reason I can't even fathom, the photographers didn't pay him too much attention today, ha.  Bet he LOVED it!)

HM's wearing a repehat today, last seen when she held court in a courtroom a year ago.  But Kate brought out a new topper just for us!

And I, for one, absolutely love it!  I mean, you all know how I feel about a structured beret!  Something about this '40s retro chic look really works on Kate.  I even love the little monochrome felt flower.  (If you want to rate her entire outfit, head over here to Cambridge Chic!)

PHOTO CREDITS: REUTERS/Oli Scarff/Pool, Oli Scarff/Getty Images

Sgt. Pepper returns!  The lighting is far kinder to the entire ensemble this go around, and some of the gold embellishments on the coat have been happily banished, but I still sort of wish they'd left it behind in Oman.  *shrug*

Also:

HM brought all the girls along for the opening of the Diamond Jubilee Tea Salon (fancy!) today -- but apparently Cams 'n Kate didn't get the hat memo.  Come on, ladies, what've we got to do to get you two to wear more toppers, hm?

PHOTO CREDITS: Leon Neal - WPA Pool/Getty Images, Ian Gavan/Getty Images

HM ventured out on Leap Day to open a new wing at Somerset House, and it's always appropriate to don feathers while opening a wing, no?  (Har har.)

But really, honestly, I wasn't going to spend much time talking about this repeated topper until the style bloggers over at the Huffington Post called it "one of her signature fascinators."  Fascinator?  Oh, dear.  It's a bit like the square/rectangle rule: all fascinators are hats, but not all hats are fascinators!  Pull up a chair to the table, darlings, and let the hat blogger have the floor...

PHOTO CREDITS: Eddie Mulholland - WPA Pool/Getty Images

Hatters, today is one of those days when I really resent that I'm not royal.  Today, I went to work.  Today, Charles and Camilla went to the Dickens Museum to celebrate the author's 200th birthday by leafing through one of his own annotated first editions with Lady Dedlock/Miss Havisham/Dana Scully.  SIGH.

Besides, if I were the royal attending this occasion, I would have chosen a hat that was not a) a Paddington, because Mr. Dickens really deserves better, and b) not one that I wore less than two weeks ago (or not even a fortnight ago, as Mr. D himself might have said).

BLAH.  Don't mind me, I'll just be over here sulking into my cheap paperback copy of Our Mutual Friend, imagining what kind of Victorian-y hattery I would have selected for this jaunt.  (This one?  This one?  Or, to continue the Havisham theme, maybe even this one?)  ANYWAY.

PHOTO CREDITS: REUTERS/Andrew Winning

Buck House has released this great portrait of HM to mark the start of the Diamond Jubilee year (plus another that features Prince Philip as well -- you can see it here).

Love to see Lil in the George IV State Diadem -- usually we see this during the State Opening of Parliament ceremonies.  But I think my very favorite thing about the portrait is that they managed to get both of Britain's Diamond Jubilee queens in it -- that's the Queen Victoria Memorial in the background.  Fabulous!

PHOTO CREDITS: John Swannell/Royal Household/Camera Press

Happy Accession Day, Your Maj!  60 years and counting!

We've got a rather gigantic hat from Lil for the second day running -- I don't think we've seen this one since its outing at last year's Braemar festivities. 

I've got a theory, though, on why we're getting such big hats from HM this jubilee-kickoff week: she's totally smuggling the Imperial State Crown under there, right? 

PHOTO CREDITS: ARTHUR EDWARDS/AFP/Getty Images

We've got a big giant repehat from Sandringham today -- I don't think we've actually seen this one since the state visit to Slovenia back in 2008.  This one vaguely reminds me of a baked good this time around.

PHOTO CREDITS: BEN STANSALL/AFP/Getty Images  

No, no, this isn't a photo of two Russian grannies hanging out in Siberia in January -- it's the Queen and Princess Anne, braving the freezing temps in England to kick off this year's Diamond Jubilee festivities by doing one of my favorite royal activities:

A royal tree planting!  Hooray!

The queen's jubilee year formally begins on Monday, the 60th anniversary of her accession to the throne.  We'll be celebrating with the royals all year here at MH, too -- I've got a series of Jubilee Hattery Flashbacks queued up, and we'll be playing along as the royals go hither and thither to various events across the Commonwealth.  Get excited, hatters!

PHOTO CREDITS: ARTHUR EDWARDS/AFP/Getty Images