St. Paul's was simply lousy with royals today!  Let's get this Jubilee party started, hatters!

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I have to say -- this is just a swirly bit of fun on Kate Kent's head, but I really kind of like it.  It's whimsical, but it's not pastel pink or sprouting purple flowers.  This is restrained and elegant whimsy.

(Also, no, it doesn't have a brim -- that's Julia Ogilvy, Princess Alexandra's daughter-in-law, behind her.  But it does give us a good look at what a proper brim would look like on the DoK, and I like it!)

PHOTO CREDITS: Zimbio

Katie Kent! How's it going, girl?

Love the headpiece in general, but I so wish you'd experiment with some more saturated colors. You'd look fab in a jewel tone -- imagine this in a lovely violet or cranberry. The pastels are washing you out a bit.

Also -- are your nails purple? Love you to bits, Ms. K!

(Originally posted at the Annex - click here for more comments.)

Thanks to eagle-eyed hatter Brian, who discovered that we had an additional royal hatter on the balcony for Remembrance Sunday: Kate Kent!  Long time, no see, Kate!

Now, as to the hat: I am just not sure about this.  It's so small.  Like, overly small.  We're in Empress Michiko territory here, and while she manages to pull off hats like this because it's her thing, it just doesn't do justice to the Duchess.  And there's just too much stuff on it -- flower, ribbons, sparkles, pins.  It's a little exhausting.

But don't let my harsh hattery critique keep you away, Your Royal Highness!  The more royal hatters, the merrier.  (And your coat is so chic!)

PHOTO CREDITS: Indigo/Getty Images

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

I have to say, the wonderful royal photographers in London have heard our repeated cries and provided us with far better close-up photos of minor royals this year, save three: Katharine Kent and one of her daughters-in-law, the Countess of St. Andrews, and (I think) one of the Countess's daughters -- I believe it's the teenaged royal I tentatively identified last year as Lady Marina-Charlotte Windsor.

You can just barely see (the alleged) Marina-Charlotte and Kate Kent in front of the column on the right, just to the right of the Waleses and Lady Helen Taylor.  Marina appears to have some sort of white feather fascinator on, and Lady Kent is wearing a blue beret of some sort.

Word on the street is that the Countess of St. Andrews is the first woman to the right of Katharine, wearing the large hat with what appears to be dark-colored flowers.  Really too bad on this one: it would be Sylvana's first appearance on the blog, and we need to talk all about her and her fascinating career as a professor of history at Cambridge sometime!

(So, if anyone comes up with any clearer photos of these three -- or of Lady Nicholas Windsor, who was supposedly also present -- please let us all know!)

Hey, everybody, it's Katharine Kent!

The Duchess looks fabulous here, doesn't she?  She's definitely aging quite gracefully.  And she's got a nice little hat on -- much better than the fascinator she wore the last time we had a good picture of her.

The colors are tough to make out here -- darn these through-the-tinted-window pictures -- but newspaper reports said that the hat is navy with turquoise embellishments.  Very chic, Kate!  I know you have your music students to keep you busy, but I do wish we could see you out and about more often...

I really think Katharine Kent might be trying to avoid us.  Exhibit A - she only appears in long-range photos, standing behind her teenage granddaughters:

And, Exhibit B - she apparently only takes close-up photos from the back now:

Listen, Kate: I know you're sort of famously reclusive, but hiding just won't do when there's hattery at stake, no matter how hard you try to evade those telephoto lenses.  And besides, I can see your hat anyway, and I think the color's wrong for you.  So there.

Hey, it's The Duchess of Kent! Welcome to the blog, darling!

Aside from the fact that the photographer has apparently caught The Duchess mid-sneeze, there's only one major problem here -- the day the disappearing Duchess decides to come out and join the fun, Kate Kent apparently stole a fascinator out of Kate Middleton's stash to sport at the event. I know The Queen's doing it, but I'm still not convinced that fascinators work on anybody with grandchildren. Am I the only one here?

Regardless, don't let us scare you away, Katharine! It's always great to break up the Queen-Camilla-Queen-Anne-Beatrice-Queen-Queen-Queen monotony with a rarely seen royal countenance.

Kath Kent was all smiles at the royal wedding -- I only wish I'd had the same reaction when I saw her hat!  I think she reaches a little young with her hats sometimes.  Save the feathers and frills for the young girls, and embrace your status as a mature, regal woman, Your Royal Highness!