A Canadian Fascinator Amidst Royal Hats

Not surprisingly in The Royal We by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan there are lots of scenes involving clothes especially as Bex's relationship progresses with Prince Nick and she becomes a public figure besieged by paparazzi every day.

Royal expectations take the young American into the world of hats. When I visualize the real life Queen Elizabeth II I think of her hats. All the Royal women wear hats. Hats are a new experience for Bex. In America she had worn ball caps.

She begins by "shopping after work with Bea and Joss at a private room in Stephen Jones Millinery in Covent Garden". Trying on a "spiked fascinator" she thinks she looks "like a cactus".

My wife, Sharon, loves hats. She has several dozen. I have joined her for hat shopping in Europe, the middle of the Atlantic (Bermuda), the United States and across Canada.

One of our most surprising hat experiences was at Smithbilt hats in the Inglewood area of Calgary where our sons reside. Smithbilt makes thousands of cowboy hats every year for the famed Calgary Stampede. Looking through the store we were surprised to come across a board to which were affixed fascinators. The designer of hat bands and embellishments for the cowboy hats also creates women's hats. The fascinator at the top of this post is the fascinator Sharon bought that day. I think it would be suitable for a Royal event.

I am confident every Royal lady has worn a fascinator. Here is Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall. Further examples can be seen at an amazing blog on royal hats:

https://royalhats.net/2014/02/26/hat-types-the-fascinator/

For Bex her most vivid hat day is at the Royal Ascot races. Invited to watch from the Royal Family box she must have an appropriate hat which "must have a base of four inches or larger".  

While many hats at Ascot are elegant there is a tradition of "wonderful, ridiculous" hats such as "a bust of David Beckham; a Mad Hatter's tea party recreated in elaborate clay sculptures, the Cheshire Cat's tail flicking the wearer's ear".

Sadly Bex's hat is not described. Thus I turn to the hats of the real life Royals at Ascot.

I like to think Bex would have chosen a hat such as the hat worn by Princess Kate in 2017 rather than ....

..... the hat chosen by Meghan (not sure how to address her in 2021) for Ascot in 2018.

Of all the Royal Ascot hats in recent years I think the Queen made a brilliant  choice in 2018.