Princess Beatrice's controversial hat makes headlines again

Celebrity milliner Philip Treacy has once again come to the defense of the much-talked-about hat he designed for Princess Beatrice to wear to Prince William and Catherine Middleton’s wedding ceremony in 2011.

The powder pink fascinator, shaped like a giant bow, took the internet by storm immediately following the ceremony, as memes depicting it as anything from a pretzel to a toilet seat went viral. But even in its avant-gardism, Treacy remains a devoted fan.

“I love it,” Treacy told the Telegraph.

“If there was no opinion, it would be pointless. It’s impossible to design something that billions of people agree with.” More on: Princess Beatrice Dress Fashion Royal Wedding British Royal family Fact-check.

Beatrice auctioned off the hat on ebay the next day to raise money and awareness for her and Prince William’s favorite children’s charity UNICEF, and another children’s charity called, Children In Crisis, raking in £81,100.01 to be split equally between the two charities.

‘I do find it interesting that at that moment, you do have to… what I had imagined, I thought I might find myself with my head on a spike outside the Tower of London,” Treacy joked last year about media’s overwhelming reaction, according to the Daily Mail.

In 2024 Treacy was granted a Royal Warrant as milliner by Queen Camilla to the Royal Family. He also collaborated with Crown Jeweller, Mark Appleby to create four Cap of Maintenance velvet accessories that went beneath King Charles and Queen Camilla’s crowns at their 2023 Coronation ceremony.

A life beyond caps and fasciniors For nearly four decades Treacy has been responsible for designing 36 pieces of millinery for the 2011 royal wedding, 20 for Price Harry and Meghan’s 2018 wedding, and numerous caps and veils for royal engagements, not least for Queen Camilla herself when she married now King Charles III in 2005.

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For Treacy, keeping millinery relevant-which relies, most of all, on keeping the royals in hats-“has been very important for so many years,” and says “if the Royal Family didn’t wear hats, I wouldn’t be sitting here talking to you.” They continue to serve as standard bearers for how formal dressing ought to be done. “We’re not interested, frankly, as a human beings.