This is just excellent -- I love when people recycle props from old Hollywood alien movies!

PHOTO CREDITS: PPE

Eagle-eyed reader Brian found a photo of another new hatter at the beatification; although photo agencies identified the young woman in the black veil here as Princess Tessy, wife of Prince Louis of Luxembourg, it appears it's actually one of Louis's cousins, Princess Maria-Anunciata of Liechtenstein.

M-A's mother is Princess Margaretha of Luxembourg, sister of Grand Duke Henri and daughter of Grand Duke Jean.  Her father is Prince Nikolaus of Liechtenstein, the brother of Prince Hans-Adam II.  Nikolaos is also Liechtenstein's ambassador to Belgium and to the Vatican.

Wish we could see more of the veil, but from this vantage point, it looks lovely!

PHOTO CREDITS: IBL Bildbyra

We've been absolutely spoiled with new royal hatters lately, haven't we?  Here's yet another new -- and rarely seen -- princess for the blog: the woman on the left is Marie Aglaë, the wife of Hans-Adam, the reigning Prince of Liechtenstein.  Hans-Adam and Marie Aglaë's son, Hereditary Prince Alois, does the business of running the principality, but Hans-Adam (the man shaking Queen Paola's hand here) is still the nation's head of state.

Lovely black lace veil on Marie Aglaë -- like Letizia, she must wear black at the Vatican.  Here's a question I've always had about the privilège du blanc -- as Spain, Belgium, and Luxembourg are not the only Catholic countries with a reigning monarch or grand duke, why aren't the princesses or princesses consort of Catholic principalities like Liechtenstein and Monaco also afforded the ability to wear white?  Anyone know the answer to this one?

PHOTO CREDITS: Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images

HRH The Crown Princess of Sweden and Mr. Daniel Westling
June 19, 2010

Well, kids, yesterday we partied hardy in the wedding live posts, and today we get to have a tiara fiesta!  I've compiled all of the tiara entries for the royal guests at Crown Princess Victoria's wedding to Daniel Westling (now Prince Daniel) in this entry.

The wedding, of course, took place in Stockholm yesterday.  The couple has been together since 2002, when Daniel became Victoria's personal trainer.  Love blossomed, and on their wedding day, Daniel became royal.  During their balcony appearance, Victoria thanked the people of Sweden for giving her a prince.

And now, we'll all just have to wait to see how long it takes before the pitter-patter of little royal feet are heard in Haga Palace!

Wedding Hatters

Another new royal for the blog!  This is Princess Sophie of Liechtenstein, wife of Hereditary Prince Alois of Liechtenstein.  Sophie was both born and married royal -- she was Princess Sophie of Bavaria before her wedding.  Interesting tidbit: she's also expected to eventually inherit the Jacobite claim to the British throne -- talk about your convoluted royal puzzles, that's the grand-daddy of them!

I think Sophie looks just smashing in the Habsburg Fringe Tiara, a Liechtenstein family heirloom that was once apparently owned by the royal family of Austria.  Alois's grandmother, Princess Gina, wore the tiara often,  but these days, it's not seen frequently.  It's a shame, too -- it's one of the prettiest fringes I've seen!

HRH Prince Philippe, Duke of Brabant and Countess Mathilde d'Udekem d'Acoz
December 4, 1999

Of the six crown princely weddings we'll be hatting about with in preparation for Crown Princess Victoria's June nuptials, Prince Philippe of Belgium's wedding is the first.  Married to Belgian aristocrat Mathilde d'Udekem d'Acoz in 1999, Philippe is currently their heir to the Belgian throne, now occupied by his father, King Albert II.

Since their marriage, Mathilde and Philippe have lived an active but fairly low-key royal life.  In between major royal events and charity work, they have found time to have four children: Princess Elisabeth (future Queen of the Belgians), Prince Gabriel, Prince Emmanuel, and Princess Eléanore.  But let's do a little time-traveling jaunt back eleven years, and -- dare I say it -- party like it's 1999!

Wedding Hatters

Here's a rare appearance from a royal and a brand-new country to add to the blog: the woman in the center of the photo, sitting one row behind Prince Laurent and Crown Princess Mathilde, is Princess Margaretha of Liechtenstein.

Margaretha was born a princess of Luxembourg, the daughter of Grand Duke Jean and Grand Duchess Joséphine-Charlotte of Luxembourg -- and Joséphine-Charlotte was the half-sister of Prince Alexandre of Belgium, making Alexandre the uncle of Princess Margaretha.  Whew!  The royal families of Belgium/Luxembourg/Liechtenstein certainly are linked in complicated ways.

I quite like the hat she's chosen to wear to this funeral as well -- sort of a winter-weight pillbox hat, I suppose.

The Luxembourgers were out in force at their cousin Philippe's wedding -- here's Hereditary Grand Duke Henri (as he was in 1999), Hereditary Grand Duchess Maria Teresa, Princess Margaretha of Liechtenstein (Henri's sister), and her twin brother, Prince Jean of Luxembourg.

Maria Teresa's got a ringer of a cap on, but let's save her for a bit and focus on her sister-in-law.  What in the world is Margaretha wearing here?  This looks like the formal version of Olivia Newton-John's sweatband from the "Physical" video!  Perhaps she can pull it down over her ears to ward off the December cold?