Happy New Year, Mad Hatters!  While I'm sure you're all quite busy enjoying the bubbly and kissing your sweethearts at midnight, I thought a little hattery fun might be in order tonight as well.

(Well, this is Mad Hattery -- I'm sure you're all actually lounging on cruise ships in your Sunday best, wearing construction helmets and sipping champers just like Queen Silvia up there.  You are, aren't you?  I knew it!)

Anyway: everyone's doing year-in-review posts right now (heck, I just did two: The Top Ten British Royal Events of the Decade and 2009's Royal Romance Review -- check 'em out!), so I thought we'd join right in.

And so, without further adieu, I present: the Mad Hattery Awards of 2009, recognizing the wackiest, zaniest, and most completely out-of-control hattery worn this year!

And the winners are (drumroll please)...

Read the rest of this entry »

Crown Princess Victoria and fiancé Daniel Westling joined in the royal skiing fun today in Storlien, a resort very near the Sweden-Norway border.  The two looked happy -- as any soon-to-be newlyweds should -- as they skiied and played in the snow with children of some of their friends.

Sensible hattery choice, too -- can't be too careful with a royal noggin on the ski slopes!

Here's one royal lady I've been waiting forever to debut on the blog: Charlotte Casiraghi, the gorgeous daughter of Princess Caroline of Monaco.  She doesn't have a title -- because her father was a commoner -- but no matter.  When your mother is heir to the Monegasque throne and your grandmother was Grace Kelly, I think titles are really rather secondary, don't you?

I love Charlotte's fun little winter hat here, with its Nordic design and the crazy puff ball on the top.  I do hope she's going to put on something a little more helmet-like (you know, like, well, a helmet) if she plans on heading down the slopes with the rest of her family!

(Now, Char, if you could just find an occasion to bust out one of the Monaco tiaras sometime soon, I think we'd all be very much obliged!)

Just like their Spanish counterparts, the royal women of Monaco were out on the piste in Switzerland today during the post-Christmas holiday.  Princess Caroline and her youngest child, Princess Alexandra of Hanover, looked ready to take on the mountain.

Alexandra especially seemed ready to head out on the slopes, with her sensible and safe red ski helmet.  Her mother's knitted hat may have been less suited for a run down the mountain, but looks warm and cozy for the skiing spectator.  I'm a sucker for knitted hats with snowflake motifs -- maybe it's my Scandinavian heritage talking?

One more Spanish royal out hitting the slopes today: it's Victoria de Marichalar, the daughter of Infanta Elena and Don Jaime de Marichalar.  This royal granddaughter looks like she's quite accomplished on skis -- and her bright orange helmet is adorable!

If any royal woman deserves a holiday this winter, it's surely Infanta Elena, the eldest daughter of King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia of Spain.  Elena and her husband, Don Jaime de Marichalar, are in the midst of finalizing their divorce after a two-year-long separation.  Hopefully her trip to the Pyrenees with her children and her sister's family helped to take her mind off of all of that business!

Elena's wearing dark colors here, but where she's concerned, they're more likely to be a fashion statement than a reflection of her mood, I think.  Elena is frequently spotted out at Spain's Fashion Week, and her clothes tend to be elegant and chic -- just like an all-black skiing outfit and matching helmet.

It does look like it might be a bit warm, though, doesn't it?

The littlest Spanish royal lady out at Baqueira-Beret today is four-year-old Irene Urdangarín, the youngest child (and only daughter) of The Duke and Duchess of Palma de Mallorca, and a granddaughter of the King and Queen of Spain.  She's on the left of this photo, wearing a red ski jacket and a white hat -- a very mod combo for a stylish little girl!

Christmas holidays always bring the royals out on the slopes -- perhaps skiing lessons are mandatory for new royals just like tree planting classes?  Sometimes we get to see some royal ladies sporting winter chapeaux who might not normally hat about, and this winter, it's the royal women of Spain and Monaco.  Yippee!

Here's Infanta Cristina, the middle child of King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia of Spain.  She and her husband, Iñaki Urdangarín -- an Olympic handball player ... how many of those do you find in royal houses these days? -- have just moved their family to Washington, D.C.  They jaunted back from America to the Baqueira-Beret ski resort in the Spanish Pyrenees for a little family R&R.

Very sensible headgear for skiing, of course, and I like the way the blue contrasts with her yellow jacket.  So winter chic!

Here's HM leaving church today in her car with her traditional companion, Sophie Wessex.  I'm not sure when the two of them started riding back to Sandringham together, but they've done so for several years.  Maybe HM just wants to gossip about the service with her in private?

As far as the hattery goes here, I again have this weird hattery deja vu feeling where I think I've seen these two hats before, but I can't for the life of me find them on this blog.  HM's silver number looks almost quilted, which I like; but I'm not a big fan of the upturned brim on the side. 

And Sophie's hat looks very similar in shape to others we've seen on her fairly recently -- most notably the Easter '09 wildlife feather explosion -- and I'm ready to see a new silhouette, I think.  A little exaggerated is okay, but these are starting to look a little costume-y to me.

(Also: must be cold in that car, huh?  It's nice of HM to share her blanket with her daughter-in-law, isn't it?)

Oh, so much better than Friday, Autumn!  As far as furry hats go, I quite like this one.  She really looks like she fits in with the Windsor women wearing this particular topper, doesn't she?