HRH The Crown Princess of Sweden and Mr. Daniel Westling
June 19, 2010

Well, kids, yesterday we partied hardy in the wedding live posts, and today we get to have a tiara fiesta!  I’ve compiled all of the tiara entries for the royal guests at Crown Princess Victoria’s wedding to Daniel Westling (now Prince Daniel) in this entry.

The wedding, of course, took place in Stockholm yesterday.  The couple has been together since 2002, when Daniel became Victoria’s personal trainer.  Love blossomed, and on their wedding day, Daniel became royal.  During their balcony appearance, Victoria thanked the people of Sweden for giving her a prince.

And now, we’ll all just have to wait to see how long it takes before the pitter-patter of little royal feet are heard in Haga Palace!

Wedding Hatters

Sophie went with her fall-back tiara for today’s wedding — her own Wessex Wedding Tiara.  Something about it actually looks better here than it has in the past; maybe it’s sitting down further in her hair?  Nevertheless, what I’m really interested in is that necklace — doesn’t it look like it might be a small fringe tiara just waiting to be put on a frame???

Sophie went head-to-toe in silver today; here’s the full-length photo…

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So, clearly, this is what happened here: Sophie borrowed this hat from her niece, Zara, but then, when she put it on, there was a HAIR EXPLOSION! 

So unfortunate.  Even Princess Haya can’t keep a straight face!

HRH The Prince of Wales and Mrs. Camilla Parker Bowles
April 9, 2005

We’ve reached the finish line, kids: it’s our last hattery flashback post for the month!  Which also means that Crown Princess Victoria’s wedding is only three days away — hooray!!!

Our most recent crown princely wedding in Europe was also easily the most controversial: in 2005, Prince Charles married his longtime partner, Camilla Parker Bowles, with whom he had admitted committing adultery during his marriage to Diana, Princess of Wales.  Both parties were divorced (though Charles, in the wake of Diana’s death, was considered a widower), and so a religious wedding in the Church of England was impossible. 

However, it had become clear by 2005 that Camilla’s place in Charles’s life was non-negotiable, and so the Queen and the Archbishop of Canterbury decided that marriage was the best option.  The solution?  A civil wedding ceremony at the Guildhall in Windsor, followed by a Church of England blessing at St. George’s Chapel on the grounds of Windsor Castle.  There was one more unforeseen obstacle to overcome, however: the wedding had to be postponed by one day when Pope John Paul II died, and Charles had to represent the Queen at his funeral.

But on the day of the wedding itself, things went off largely without a hitch.  Camilla went from being Mrs. Parker Bowles to being HRH The Duchess of Cornwall (she doesn’t use the Princess of Wales title because of lingering associations with Diana).  All of Charles and Camilla’s children were present for the celebration, as were all of the senior royals — and Camilla’s ex-husband, too!  The two celebrated their fifth wedding anniversary this year.

(For those hoping this wedding hattery flashback might be about Charles and Diana’s wedding, never fear: I’m planning to do a flashback post about that event in the future!)

Wedding Hatters

Great Britain
Elizabeth · Camilla · Beatrice · Eugenie · Sophie · Anne · Zara
Serena · Sarah · Birgitte · Katharine · Alexandra · Marie-Christine

Foreign Royals
Anne-Marie · Mette-Marit · Laurentien

Oh, come on, Soph, don’t look at me like that!  You wear a hat like this, you have to know you’re going to make it on Mad Hattery!

But I think another view is necessary to really process what’s going on with this little bit of crazy, because the profile view just makes this look deceptively tame:

It’s like a furry, feathery octopus!  I love it!  It could only be improved if the feather tentacles could somehow be put in motion!

But apparently it’s not staying on that well, and it’s clearly not actually functional in providing adequate shade, judging by the lady’s slight squint.  Maybe she could borrow Anne’s snazzy souvenir shades?

Finally, someone embraces the Ascot spirit by going wacky with her hattery!  I almost like this hat of Sophie’s, even in normal, non-Ascot terms – the pattern on the jauntily-placed mini saucer is rather mesmerizing.  And the embellishments are really edging on whimsical. 

I do wonder, though, if we’re looking at a season of black-and-white hats for Sophie — though heck, she’s blonde, she can carry it off!  And I do love black and white at Ascot; it’s so My Fair Lady.

Also — it seems as if there’s officially a royal shoe-loss epidemic going on!

First Mary at Arlington, now Sophie at Ascot.  Who will be next?????

I wonder how many feather dusters had to give their lives so this hat could live…

I am just in awe of the craziness of this.  Way to go, Soph!

I imagine the conversation between these two on Friday went something like this:

WESSEX: “Oh, Cams, I just can’t decide what in the world to adorn my usual hat shape with for this year’s big birthday parade!  Whatever shall I do?  I don’t want to risk showing up wearing a random exotic animal or a gravity-defying monstrosity again!”

CORNWALL: “Well, Soph, we all know I can’t really be trusted when it comes to millinery matters — I do tend to show up to family events in blue fur towers or seat-belted berets, after all.  But I do think I have one tip that could be helpful…”

WESSEX: “What’s that, Cams?”

CORNWALL: “CABBAGE FLOWERS.”

WESSEX: “Oh, brilliant!  I’ll get Eddie all set up with the hot glue gun right away!”

… and, scene.

HRH The Crown Prince of Denmark and Miss Mary Donaldson
May 14, 2004

Our last major tiara wedding before Crown Princess Vic’s big day was the wedding of Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark and Tasmanian-born Mary Elizabeth Donaldson.  The two met during the Sydney Olympics in 2000, fell in love, and got hitched four years later.

Frederik and his Aussie bride have two children: Prince Christian (who will one day be king) and Princess Isabella, the first Danish princess born in a generation.  Mary has transformed from an everyday girl to a glamorous crown princess, and this wedding was definitely high on the glamour factor as well: we’ve got more than thirty tiaras on parade here, many of which are brand-new to the blog.  A good trial run for Victoria’s wedding, no doubt!  Enjoy!

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HRH The Prince of Orange and Miss Máxima Zorreguieta Cerruti
February 2, 2002

Here’s our third crown princely wedding in the run up to Crown Princess Victoria’s June nuptials — less than a month now!  The crown prince of The Netherlands, Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange, wed Argentine investment banker Máxima Zorreguieta Cerruti in 2002. 

The wedding was not without controversy; Máxima’s father, Jorge Zorreguieta Stefanini, was a minister in the administration of Argentine dictator Jorge Videla.  Videla’s government carried out what was called a “Dirty War,” killing tens of thousands of Argentine citizens, and Zorreguieta’s involvement was suspect.  However, the Dutch States-General granted permission for the couple to marry — but neither of Máxima’s parents attended the wedding.

Since their marriage, Máxima’s relaxed and friendly personality has become quite popular with the Dutch people.  She and Willem-Alexander have three daughters: Catharina-Amalia, Hereditary Princess of Orange (who will likely one day be queen), Princess Alexia, and Princess Ariane.

Wedding Hatters