Only a few more hours now, hatters!  The royal wedding starts at 11:00 AM in London (that's 6 AM in New York / 3 AM in Los Angeles for Yanks like me!).  Our Royal Wedding Live Post (squee!) will kick off here at:

7 AM London / 3 AM New York / 12 AM Los Angeles / 5 PM Sydney

... if I can wait that long to open it, ha!  Until then, if you're partying all night, head over to place your bets on the tiara, or browse through our wedding flashback posts!

To help us all keep track of the many, many royal faces who will be appearing at this wedding, I've put together a pictoral guest list for this wedding just like I did for Crown Princess Victoria's wedding last June.  Print out out and keep it by your side so that you can correctly identify all of the royals (and their hats!) as they appear on screen -- because you know the commentators aren't going to know who half these people are, LOL!

THE BRIDE AND GROOM

HRH Prince William of Wales and Miss Catherine Middleton

Click below for the rest of the guests!

Read the rest of this entry »

All right, hatters: it's time for...

The Official Wedding Tiara Guessing Post!

Place your wagers -- which tiara will Kate sport on her big day?  There are four classic British examples in the graphic above, plus the entire British section of sparklers in the Tiara-Pedia to choose from -- and even more tiaras on top of that!  Register your guess in the comments, along with your answer to this bonus question:

What color will the Queen's hat be on Friday?

Have at it, hatters!

HRH The Duke of York and Miss Sarah Ferguson
July 23, 1986

Time for our last Westminster Abbey royal wedding flashback, hatters, and you know what that means -- the next Abbey wedding is less than a week away!  It's been twenty-five years since a member of the British royal family was married at the Abbey, and the last one was a major family affair.

Prince Andrew, then a naval officer, married Sarah Ferguson, then the untitled daughter of a family with serious aristocratic ties, in 1986.  The pair met through her father's association with the Windsors' polo operations, and the Princess of Wales was instrumental in getting them together.  Like Kate, Sarah was a few months older than her royal groom, but both were 26 on their wedding day.

We all know how this story ended: what seemed like (and probably was) a true love match ended in divorce after ten years of marriage, two daughters, and an affair splashed across the front pages of the British papers.  The pair's split ended up being remarkably amicable, however -- they even still live in the same house, Royal Lodge near Windsor Castle.  Neither has remarried.  (Both also tend to be involved in varying levels of embarassing scandal at any given moment, unfortunately.)

Wedding Hatters

HM The Queen
HM The Queen Mother
HRH The Princess of Wales
HRH The Duchess of York
HRH The Princess Anne
Miss Zara Phillips
HRH The Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon
The Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones
HRH The Duchess of Gloucester
HRH Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester
The Lady Davina Windsor
The Lady Rose Windsor
HRH The Duchess of Kent
The Lady Helen Windsor

(I believe there were some foreign royals in attendance at this wedding; however, I've not been able to find any photos of them.  If you do manage to track any down, let me know!  We're also missing Princess Alexandra, her daughter Marina, and the always-delightful Princess Michael -- you can pick them out below.)

How about a

Royal Christening Live Post!

This is a spontaneous thing, so I have no idea if anyone will be around, but I'm watching, so I thought I'd give it a go.  Dry run for two weeks from now?

Here's the link I'm using to view the service in the US -- it may work for some of the rest of you as well.  I've already seen a few hats on guests, so it looks like we're in for a fun time ... and we'll finally learn these babies' names!

If you're watching, feel free to jump in and comment!

PHOTO CREDITS: REUTERS/Keld Navntoft/Scanpix

HRH The Princess Anne and Lieutenant Mark Phillips
November 14, 1973

You can tell we're getting close to the next big Westminster Abbey wedding, hatters -- we're moving on into the '70s in our Abbey flashback series!  Today we're looking at the Princess Royal's first wedding, way back when she was still just plain Princess Anne.  She wed fellow equestrian Mark Phillips at the Abbey in 1973 (on Prince Charles's 25th birthday -- what an interesting birthday gift to her big brother!).

Anne was the first of the Queen's children to marry -- she was only 23 on her first wedding day.  From the beginning Anne and Mark eschewed royal tradition; it's believed that he turned down the Queen's offer of an earldom as a wedding gift.  That meant that their two children, Peter and Zara, would not inherit a title -- their births marked the first time ever that the grandchildren of a monarch were born commoners.

Of course, we all know how this wedding turned out.  After nearly 20 tumultuous years together, Anne and Mark divorced in 1992.  Both later remarried: Anne to Vice-Admiral Timothy Laurence and Mark to yet another equestrienne, Sandy Pflueger.  The two are still photographed together regularly, mostly at equestrian events on the Gatcombe Park estate they once shared (Mark and his second wife actually now live nearby on an adjoining farm).  They also shared in another milestone late last year: the birth of their first grandchild, Savannah Phillips.

Wedding Hatters

HM The Queen
HM The Queen Mother
HRH The Princess Anne
HRH The Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon
HRH The Duchess of Gloucester
HRH The Duchess of Kent
HRH Princess Richard of Gloucester
HRH Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone
HRH Princess Alexandra, The Hon. Mrs. Ogilvy
The Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones
The Lady Helen Windsor
HM Queen Anne-Marie of Greece
HSH The Princess of Monaco
HRH The Crown Princess of Norway
HRH Princess Beatrix of The Netherlands
HRH The Princess of Spain

And a group photo:

Hey, everybody -- can Hunky Haakon and I have your attention for a bit?  We've got an important announcement to make!

In an effort to keep the blog running as smoothly as possible, especially during that big event that's coming up at the end of next month, I'm implementing a change I've been thinking about making here at Mad Hattery for a while.  (If you follow me on Twitter, you may have seen me posting about it a few weeks ago!)

From today on, users will be required to register at the site before they can comment on posts.  It won't be any different than other sites or forums that require users to register before posting; in fact, if you post over at Royalty with Ella Kay, it will be essentially the same system.

So, if you've been a regular commenter here previously, what do you do?  I want to make sure you get to keep the screenname you've been using here, so register that screenname and use the same e-mail address you've been using up until now, and I'll be able to ensure that you get to keep your name (and no one else can snag it!).

Users will have to use a legitimate e-mail address when registering an account; you will have to verify your account using a link sent to that address.  After you verify your account, I'll approve it -- and then you'll be good to go!

I'm hoping this change will do a few things:
-- Keep our community as fun and vibrant as it has been up until now.
-- Make it easier for you to post, as you won't have to enter your screenname and e-mail address every time you comment.  There is a new widget in the sidebar so you can conveniently log in to the site.
-- Cut down on the amount of nuisance comments I've had to filter out.
-- Make sure that each user has a unique screenname, so no one tries to post as an "imposter" user.

Whew!  I'm hoping that a tiny bit of inconvenience now will lead to a much more comfortable commenting experience for everyone.  So, head over to the registration page to grab your screenname, verify it, let me approve it, and then let us know you're here with a comment in this post!  Thanks, hatters!

Note: If you can't locate your verification e-mail, please check your e-mail program's spam folder.  Some programs are filtering the messages there.  If you've not been approved, and you're still waiting for the verification message, check there!

(And then, make it a real party by snagging some of the new MH gear from over in our shop!)

PHOTO CREDITS: Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images North America

A quick note: I'm more than a bit behind on blogging of late, everybody -- work obligations plus a recent death in the family have taken up a significant amount of my time.  But I am still working on these Westminster Abbey flashbacks, as well as regular hat posts, so stay tuned for more soon! -- Ella

HRH Princess Alexandra of Kent and The Hon. Angus Ogilvy
April 24, 1963

Many royal watchers have pegged Princess Alexandra's 1963 wedding to Angus Ogilvy, the son of the Earl of Airlie, as one of the best templates for William and Kate's upcoming Westminster Abbey nuptials.  Like William, Alexandra was also the grandchild of a monarch -- that'd be George V -- and had a wedding that was ceremonial but not a state occasion.

And yet, because of her impressive royal pedigree, Alexandra's wedding also featured a major slate of foreign royal guests.  Her mother, Princess Marina, was born a princess of Greece and Denmark, with ties to almost all of the major royal houses of Europe.  (Also, the "bride arriving in a car and leaving in a carriage" business?  Alexandra did that, too.)

Angus and Alex were married until his death in 2004; they had two children, James and Marina, and several grandchildren.  Today, Alexandra still carries out a slate of royal engagements in support of her cousin, the Queen.

Wedding Hatters

HRH Princess Alexandra of Kent
HRH Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent
HRH The Duchess of Kent
HM The Queen
HM The Queen Mother
HRH The Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon
HRH The Princess Anne
HRH The Duchess of Gloucester
HRH Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone
HM The Queen of Denmark
HRH Princess Anne-Marie of Denmark
HM The Queen of Greece
HM The Queen of Sweden
HM Queen Victoria Eugenia of Spain

Only three months to go until the big royal wedding, hatters!  Are you getting excited yet?  (I know you are!)

If you still need a little hattery to help get you in the mood for a Westminster Abbey royal wedding, though, you've come to the right place on the right day: today I'm posting the first installment of Hattery Flashbacks from the Abbey!  For the next three months, I'll be posting hattery from the most recent royal weddings held at the Abbey -- here's the schedule:

January 29: Elizabeth & Philip / Margaret & Tony
February 28: Alexandra & Angus / Anne & Mark
March 29: Andrew & Sarah

The first two flashbacks are posted below!  So, put on your best wedding chapeaux, hatters -- it's time for some flashback fun!

PHOTO CREDITS: BEN STANSALL/AFP/Getty Images

HRH The Princess Margaret and Mr. Antony Armstrong-Jones
May 6, 1960

Thirteen years after her big sister was married in Westminster Abbey, Princess Margaret arrived at the church for her own wedding to photographer Antony Armstrong-Jones.

Margaret, the younger daughter of George VI and Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, had previously been involved with her late father's equerry, Peter Townsend; however, she broke off her engagement to Townsend after Parliament and the Church of England made it clear that it would be impossible for her to retain her royal status if she married a divorced man.  After Townsend married another woman, Margaret accepted Antony Armstrong-Jones's proposal.  Their wedding was the first royal ceremony to be shown on television.  (You can see clips from the broadcast on YouTube.)

Armstrong-Jones was not given a title on his wedding day -- instead, he was created Earl of Snowdon the following year, so that Margaret's first child, Viscount Linley, would not be born without a title.  The Snowdons had one more child, Lady Sarah, before divorcing in 1978 -- the first royal divorce in Britain in more than three-quarters of a century.  Snowdon would remarry once more; Margaret never wed again.

Wedding Hatters

HM The Queen
HM The Queen Mother
HM The Queen of Denmark
HRH The Princess Margaret
HRH The Princess Anne

HRH The Princess Elizabeth and HRH The Duke of Edinburgh
November 20, 1947

Let's kick off our flashback series of Westminster Abbey weddings with one of the biggest -- the wedding of Princess Elizabeth, later Queen Elizabeth II, to Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

Elizabeth was born Princess Elizabeth of York, the elder daughter of Prince Albert (later King George VI) and Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon.  Philip was born HRH Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, the son of Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark and Princess Alice of Battenberg (a great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria).  The young royals had their first significant meeting in 1939, when 13-year-old Elizabeth was visiting the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, and 18-year-old naval cadet Philip was her guide.

Like many couples of their era, they sustained their young romance through letters during World War II, and in 1946, they became privately engaged.  The engagement was announced to the public shortly after Elizabeth turned 21, and in November 1947, they married at Westminster Abbey.  Philip renounced his foreign titles and converted to Anglicanism before the big day, and as a wedding gift, his new father-in-law created him Duke of Edinburgh, the title he still uses today.

Phil 'n Lil are still going strong, more than sixty years later -- they've stayed together through Elizabeth's fifty-plus years on the throne, and they've welcomed four children, eight grandchildren, and one brand-new great-grandchild.  What's the secret to their lasting marriage?  According to their biographer, Gyles Brandreth, it's just this: "Prince Philip is the only man in the world who treats the Queen simply as another human being.  He's the only man who can."

Wedding Hatters

HM The Queen
HM Queen Mary
HRH The Princess Elizabeth
HRH The Princess Margaret
HRH Princess Andrew of Greece and Denmark
The Dowager Marchioness of Milford Haven

There are also many, many royal hatters from this wedding for whom we don't have good close-up photos, so as an added treat, here's a big group photo of the royals who attended.  Lots of foreign monarchs, British royals (including some very young members of the family!), and a load of Battenbergs/Mountbattens.  Care to try to name them all?  (Click to enlarge!)