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...

The Kents are out in force today! This is Lady Helen Taylor, the daughter of The Duke and Duchess of Kent, and her husband, Timothy. Welcome to Mad Hattery, Lady Helen!

She and her cousin Sarah Chatto apparently had a conversation about what to wear to the memorial unveiling, and decided to play, as my third-grade best friend would have put it, "matchmates" for the day. But hey, if you're going to show up in the same hat as another member of the royal fam, at least Lady Helen chose an excellent one. Classy, chic, perfect for the rare public appearance. Well done!

Yay, another new royal face for the blog! I love when Windsors start popping out of the woodwork! This is Lady Nicholas Windsor (she's the one on the left), who is unsurprisingly married to Lord Nicholas Windsor, the younger son of The Duke and Duchess of Kent.

Paola comes from a delightfully eccentric Croatian-Italian-British family that does delightfully eccentric things like fight with other Croation nobles about which princely titles they're allowed to use. Love it! And so it's no surprise that Lady Nicholas also has a delightfully eccentric taste in hats, like this vintage-inspired number that seems to be a tribute to the style the Queen Mum liked so much. Excellent debut, ma'am!

Do come back often, Paola -- I have a feeling you could give even Princess Beatrice, the maddest of royal hatters, a run for her money if they really gave you the chance to shine...

Following along with the trend, it's a repeat hat for Lady Sarah Chatto today, too. It's one I like very much, just as much as I did the first time at Rose Gilman's wedding ... but still, I hope these royal ladies aren't conserving on hat-buying because they fear looking extravagant in our global economic fireworks explosion. Got to keep Treacy and the millinery brigade in business, after all...

While I applaud Birgitte for busting out some color and getting away from the beige (and it's a very nice, flattering color -- very lovely blue), I still feel like maybe using an upside-down flower planter as a spur-of-the-moment hat choice was maybe not the best decision...

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.

I ... sort of like Princess Anne's hat. I mean, it's kind of a silly shape, and the netting is a little frou-frou for our go-getter princess, but really ... compared to what I expected her to wear ... it's not bad at all.

I think I may go take my temperature.

Ah, old friend, here we are again -- the little black hat that looks as if it were made of packing material or corrugated cardboard of some sort. Even still, compared with the hat fashions that Sophie was sporting this summer (remember the ear explosion?), it's downright chic. The Countess really has been looking quite smart lately -- I just wish that The Earl would maybe gift her with a couple of cute new hats to put in the rotation.

And here's my favorite young royal -- the lovely Princess Eugenie. I think the dress is horrid (polka dots at a memorial statue unveiling?), but the hat is, as usual from Eug, quite nice. Small, simple, but with the little bow that keeps it from being totally boring. Snaps, your royal highness!

It's a little tough to see in this picture, but we've got our mad hat master here sporting something rather subdued -- ivory with some random grey feather embellishment, it seems. The hat itself is fine ... but good lord, Bea, is it supposed to go with the rest of it? I am stymied.