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

We've got the triumphant return of yet another Paddington AND its polka-dot scarf/blouse friend today in Camden, so a bit eh to that.  But seriously, Cams should demand that all of her pictures from now on are taken in candlelight.  How great does she look here?

PHOTO CREDITS: Dominic Lipinski - WPA Pool/Getty Images

I had messages from several of you wondering if Mary's tiara at this event was new -- it's actually the second outing for the pearl setting of her Wedding Tiara.  (Here's the previous time it was worn with pearls; it's positioned much better on her head this time.)

I do like the way that the pearls are picking up on the golden color of her jacket this time around, and I'm really pleased that she's continuing to be inventive with her tiaras ... but I still don't like it.  I think they're pretty much going to have to dismantle this one to gain my approval.  (Because they really care about that, LOL!)

PHOTO CREDITS: PurePeople

It's the Emerald Parure Tiara, part of the Danish crown jewels, for Daisy at the dinner -- love the way the emerald stones work with the teal dress.

PHOTO CREDITS: PurePeople

No decent close-ups of Ben's tiara for tonight's dinner at Christiansborg, but it appears to be her Floral Birthday Tiara, a gift from her parents.  One of my favorites of the S-W-B tiaras!

PHOTO CREDITS: PPE