Photo removed at request of copyright holder. See the photo here.

Lovebirds Zara and Mike went for casual hattery all the way to watch steeplechase races in Gloucestershire.  I totally understand the dress code here, looking around at all the other attendees, but I just can't wait to see Zara smartened up in her tiara on her wedding day.  (Looks like it's going to be July in Edinburgh -- what a busy month for royal weddings!)

Well, hatters, when it rains, it pours!  Another Windsor wedding is in the works -- today Zara Phillips's engagement to longtime boyfriend Mike Tindall was announced.  Congratulations, Mike and Zara!

And now, we've got an official engagement portrait ... with a HAT!  This is clearly proof that Zara loves us.

To be honest, a brown suede newsboy cap doesn't really scream engagement photos to me, but hey, that's Zara for you!  And there is snow all over the place in Britain, so at least it's sort of seasonal, and they are wearing sweatshirts and puffer vests, so it's outfit appropriate.  But gosh, they look happy, don't they?  I have high hopes for the Queen's grandchildren's marriages -- somehow I think they're going to have happier endings than those of the previous generation.

So, should we commence tiara guessing now?  Festoon?  Fringe?  No tiara at all?  A crazy feathered fascinator instead?

Also, for good measure: the ring!

Gorgeous!

PHOTO CREDITS: Tim Ireland - WPA Pool/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

Lovely reader Maggie sent in this photo and wondered what in the world Zara might be gesturing about.  I have absolutely no clue, but I do know this: Anne's got her old-timey gangster hat on again!  It reminds me of that episode of I Love Lucy when Ricky thinks Lucy's a kleptomaniac.  Perhaps everyone at Badminton should keep an eye on their valuables?

Hatters, when Ladies' Day rolled around yesterday at Cheltenham, and Zara Phillips showed up with no hat at all -- zip, zilch, nada, not even a headband or a ponytail holder -- I was all:

... but then I logged on to my computer this morning, and I went:

... because not only did Zara wear a hat to Gold Cup day at Cheltenham, she also wore a really cute one!

Such an adorable cloche!  It's flirty, fun, and perfect for Zara.  She's really able to pull off retro styles like this one without making them look like costumes.  Love it!

Well, it's that time of year again, hatters: the beginning of the British horse racing season!  And, of course, horse racing means Zara Phillips!

Unfortunately, Zara didn't choose a proper hat for the occasion, but fortunately, she did bedeck her blond tresses with something.  I think we're continuing on with the Alice in Wonderland theme here, because that's what ribbon headbands against blond hair always remind me of.

It looks nice enough, but really, my kingdom for a small fascinator here instead.  Let's all hope that Zara brings out the big guns later in the week -- the Gold Cup's on Friday, after all!

Looks like Zara Phillips has stumbled upon a whole new species of hybrid hattery while on equestrian business in Cambridgeshire today.  Is it a knit cap?  Is it a baseball cap?  Is it a sunvisor?  Is it some unholy combination of all three???

At first, when I saw photos of Zara heading to church this morning, I thought, "Oh, no!  She's fallen back into the plain black beret routine!"  You know, the hat worn so frequently this year that I had to declare a temporary moratorium on it for a few months?

But no, leave it to Zara: this is a much more interesting twist on that particular brand of millinery.  The peaked top of the hat makes it a more fascinating shape, I think.  It gives  the whole thing a bit of visual interest, while the neutral color keeps it toned down instead of totally zany.

So I have to give Zara props.  Plus, since she couldn't bring her rugger beau to the family Christmas shindig today, you have to admire the way she compensates with not one but two Wales princes:

That's the Zara we all know and love!

An early Christmas treat: it's Zara Phillips, out at a wedding in Canterbury, wearing a lovely fascinator!  I quite like this one, with its silvery color and the interesting shape and embellishments.  But if it looks a little familiar, it's because it has been seen on one of the Windsor women before:

Here's Autumn Kelly joining the royals for Easter at Windsor just before her 2008 wedding to Zara's brother, Peter, wearing the same fascinator.  I suppose that the sisters-in-law who hat around together stay together?

Zara Phillips is down under today, making an official appeareance at the Melbourne Cup, a racing event that seems to have the same sort of hattery requirements as Royal Ascot.  Readers are all aflutter about Zara's choice of fascinator -- several of you e-mailed me about this one.

I don't know -- you hatters may disagree with me -- but I quite like this.  It's crazy in the way that a racing fascinator should be crazy, but there's also something elegant about the tone-on-tone black feathers and bow.

Now if only Miss Phillips would announce that she's going to be wearing a wedding tiara soon, we'd really be in business!