Can I confess something to all of you?  I really, really like orange and hot pink together.  I'm not sure what that says about me, but THERE.  I said it out loud on the internet, and I can't take it back now.

The hat, though -- does it really need to be big enough to cover the palace courtyard in case it rains?  I'm not sure that's really something you have to worry about, Micaela.  I know you're one of the sort of "Queens of France" running around, but really, I think they've got it covered.

PHOTO CREDITS: Marc Piasecki/Getty Images

Get excited, hatters -- we've got a new princess in our midst!  Hooray!

This is Maria Margarita, the Duchess of Anjou, wife of Prince Louis Alphonse de Bourbon.  Now, those of you who have been keeping score will surely raise your hand and shout: "BUT WAIT, ELLA!  There's already been a Duchess of Anjou on the blog, and it's not her!"  That's because, dear hatters, there are two men who claim and use the title of Duke of Anjou -- one from the House of Bourbon-Orléans, and one from the House of (Just Plain) Bourbon.  This one's the Bourbon claimant -- he's a cousin of Juan Carlos of Spain.  Louis Alphonse also claims the throne of France, by the by, just in case you wondered.

I know, I know.  Royal pretenders get a little confusing at times.  Charts and graphs help sometimes.

Anyway -- HAT.  This is about the fourth variation we've got on this (Philip Treacy, I think) tilty saucer/exploding flower hat at this wedding, but I like it best in gray, I think.  Thumbs up, Maria Margarita!

PHOTO CREDITS: bekia.es

HRH The Prince of Asturias and Miss Letizia Ortiz Rocasolano
May 22, 2004

Only a week after Crown Prince Frederik married Mary Donaldson in Denmark, Prince Felipe of Spain tied the knot with journalist Letizia Ortiz in Madrid.  Theirs was the first wedding of a member of the Spanish royal family to take place in Madrid since the wedding of King Alfonso XIII and Princess Ena of Battenberg in 1906.  That wedding was marred by an assassination attempt on the royal couple and the tragic deaths of several bystanders -- this one, thankfully, went more smoothly, although it was a cloudy, rainy day in the Spanish capital.

There were a few controversies, however, about Felipe's choice of bride.  Letizia, a journalist who covered the September 11th attacks in New York and the Iraq War, will be the first commoner to be queen of Spain.  She also had previously been briefly married and divorced.  However, because her first wedding was a civil rather than religious one, the Catholic Church did not recognize it, and she was free to marry Felipe.

Felipe and Letizia have become quite a working team since their wedding, frequently appearing together on royal engagements.  They have also had two daughters, Infanta Leonor (born in 2005) and Infanta Sofia (born in 2007).  Leonor is expected to become queen of Spain in her own right one day -- that is, if her parents don't provide her with a baby brother!

Wedding Hatters

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 »

Something tells me this is one of the only times I'm going to blog about a royal bride wearing a big purple flower and purple cage veil to her royal wedding.

This is the Countess of Paris, née Micaela Cousiño Quiñones de León, who married Henri, Count of Paris for the first time in 1984.  He had just controversially divorced his first wife, and the two had to marry in a civil ceremony because the Catholic church does not recognize divorce.  Last year, though, the first marriage was annulled, and now the two have gotten married in a religious ceremony -- hence the purple netting/flower combo.

If the French hadn't kicked out the monarchy way back in 1848, there's a good chance that Micaela would be Queen of France.  Sigh.  Surely that entitles one to a tiara on one's wedding day, rather than a purple headpiece and a crazy quilt dress?

Yet another new royal for the blog!  These royal weddings really bring them out of the woodwork, don't they?  This is Béatrice d'Orléans, Countess of Evreux.  Her husband, Prince Michel, is the son of the Orléanist pretender to the French throne, Henri, Count of Paris.  (For those keeping score, that makes her the sister-in-law of Princess Anne, Duchess of Calabria.  Whew!)  The hottie escorting her is, I believe, her younger son, Prince François.  Yum!

So, anyway, hotties aside, how bad is this hat, huh?  The red color is too harsh, the netting is too too, and what's with the big crumple of fabric just stuck to the top of her head?

And pink gloves with a red dress?  Yuuuuuuuck!

Here's a royal couple we've never seen (and won't see together again -- they're divorced now!): Prince Amedeo, Duke of Aosta and his new wife, Princess Claude of France.  Amedeo, who now uses the title Duke of Savoy, is the son of Princess Helene of Greece.  (Claude and Amedeo's son, Aimone, would later also marry a Greek princess, Olga.)  He's also a great-grandson of King Amadeo I of Spain and a great-great-grandson of King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy.  Claude, who married Amedeo in the summer of 1964, is a sister of the Count of Paris, the current Orléanist claimant to the French throne. 

The sparkler Claude sported for this ball isn't a French piece, though: it's the Aosta Knots and Stars Tiara.  Claude also wore this diamond tiara on her wedding day, and Amedeo's second wife has worn it since his divorce from Claude.  (You can see a picture of this tiara on display at an exhibition here -- scroll down.)  Not my favorite tiara -- diamond stars and all that -- but it's certainly an impressive piece!