Thought I'd save the lady of the day for last...

The bronze version of The Queen Mum looks quite regal in her garter robes, but a big part of me wishes they'd had her in one of those pastel flippy-brimmed hats she liked so much, clutching a racing form in one hand and a gin and Dubonnet in the other. Though perhaps that wouldn't have been quite appropriate for a permanent memorial on the Mall...

I love that every hat the Queen Mum wore from approximately 1983-2002 was basically the same hat.  Queen Beatrix, she of the cake shapes, clearly learned something from the master.

The whole thing does have quite the kicky '80s floral print thing going on, though, doesn't it?

The Queen Mum's hat for her granddaughter's wedding was clearly made of two things: fur and leftover fabric from the curtains at Clarence House.  The upholstery nature of the topper is clearer from the back:

Good on QM for economizing, LOL!

Pretty typical Queen Mum hattery for her niece's wedding -- she certainly was a lady who found a style and stuck with it, wasn't she?

If there's one thing I've learned over the last few years writing this blog, it's that it just really isn't a royal wedding unless the Queen Mum shows up in feathers!  I'm really going to miss her feathery-ness at William and Kate's big soiree.  Sigh.

But even when looking at the color group photo, I can't exactly tell what color all these feathers actually are.  Ivory?  Silver?  Gray?

It's a mystery...

A very typical hat from Queen Elizabeth (the Queen Mum, that is -- but not yet at this point) for her elder daughter's wedding -- I really sort of wish big, fluffy, yellow feathers would make a comeback in royal hattery.

As for the woman on the right of the photo in the dark hat -- that's the Dowager Marchioness of Milford Haven, born Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine, grandmother of Prince Philip.  She was a granddaughter of Queen Victoria, and she's the one who lent Philip the "Mountbatten" name after he renounced his Greek titles; her husband, Prince Louis of Battenberg, had taken the name Mountbatten and the title Marquess of Milford Haven after the family renounced their German titles during World War I.

I can give old Vic a pass on this rather strange, fedora-esque hat on this occasion, because she's in her mid-eighties, and people in their mid-eighties have a license to wear whatever the heck they want!  (Erm, except Lilibet -- but she's not exactly your typical pensioner, now, is she?)

Most of the photos from this wedding are in black and white, but here's a little color version of this one to check on the colors of hats/dresses:

You can see that the Queen Mum's wearing golden yellow -- nice -- and Victoria's in what seems to be dove gray.  Both very appropriate, I think!