This is an interesting outfit: in half the photos, it looks white, and in the other half, it looks yellow.  Maybe we can compromise and call it buttercream?  Either way, I really like the light color for its springy attributes, but the fabric feels a little too wintery to me.  Perhaps it was a bit nippy down by the water in Portsmouth?

We've certainly seen this chapeaux out and about with HM before (last year's Trooping the Colour was one of its big days), but it's one of my favorites, so I don't mind seeing it again at all.  Economize, economize...

HM looks really happy to be out gallavanting with her prince (not that guy -- don't know who he is) at the polo club on a lovely April afternoon, and I think she's chosen an appropriately sunny hat to mark the occasion.  I'd like to see a slightly more saturated yellow on The Queen, because she can really rock a vibrant color, but this is far from a bad choice.

Weirdly, I sort of associate Charles & Camilla with the Vatican -- no, it's not that I think she's secretly Catholic and he's violating the not-at-all-ridiculous Act of Settlement (pfft) by marrying her.  It's because their wedding had to be pushed back a day to accommodate the funeral of Pope John Paul II back in 2005.  So it seemed perfectly fitting that the Waleses would swing by to visit Benedict XVI on their European grand tour.

Anyway.  Down to business: the hat (well, the headcovering).  It's not like ladies have much choice of headwear for a papal audience -- it's really veil, veil, mantilla, or veil, as far as I can tell.  So props for following protocal, Camilla.

But I have to say -- I really wish that story in the Daily Mail about Kate Middleton giving you a makeover was true.  Even if Prince Charles would throw a screaming fit, I still think a new haircut would really brighten up your life...

I am about five minutes away from loving this hat, really.  It's a really great shape for The Duchess -- the Farrah 'do looks quite natural under the brim -- and I think the fabric and the bow embellishment are adorable.

BUT -- there's always a but, isn't there? -- why in the world would she choose it in this color?  I think Camilla looks great in more saturated colors, and this beige absolutely washes her out.  When your hat matches your hair, your skin, your insanely-expensive pearls, and your fringey jacket, that's a problem.

Maybe something lovely in blue or green for spring next time?  A lilac?  A jaunty jaune?

Ah, I see what you've done here, Your Majesty!  You're just as enamored with Autumn Phillips's casual cowboy hat as I am -- but because you are The Queen, you had to make it a bit more regal by scaling it down and adding some frivilous little feathers.  I'm on to your plan, Liz, and I like it!

Camilla wore this hat only weeks ago to another memorial service, but I'm still a fan.  It's appropriate for a mournful occasion, but I actually think the little white curlique is almost hopeful.  Or maybe I've just been blogging about hats for so long now that I'm starting to read symbolism into them...

So, well, here's what The Countess of Wessex decided to wear for Easter this year.  I don't know.  On a year when Princess Anne wears a cross between a beach hat and the Chiquita Banana headdress, I'm just not sure that this wins, even if it does appear that Sophie may have been the victim of a fly-and-run accident on her way to St. George's.  We should probably all be happy that the bird appears to have gotten the brunt of it.

On second thought ... are some of those feathers leopard print?

If HM just had to pick a repeat hat for Easter, at least I'm glad that she chose this one: the Punxsutawney Phil of Mad Hattery's Spring '09 season.  Still cute, your maj!

Well, I'm sure glad that the bosses over at the rice paddy gave Anne the day off so she could spend Easter with her family!  And that Carmen Miranda lent her some fruit to jazz up her bonnet before the parade!

(Seriously ... Anne ... ?)