Is This Kate Middleton's Favourite Hat?
The Duchess has worn the black headpiece on at least seven occasions
Photo: Getty
For her first-ever public joint engagement with Queen Elizabeth yesterday, Kate Middleton brought along another royal standby: her "Fairy Tale" hat, designed by milliner Sylvia Fletcher for Lock & Co. Hatters.
Kate first donned the topper for the Queen's Jubilee tour in 2012, during a visit to Leicester—interestingly, another outing alongside the Queen, although it wasn't just the two of them. Since then, she's worn it six more times including yesterday, according to royal style blog What Kate Wore.
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Photo: Getty
That makes the "Fairy Tale" style a contender for Kate's all-time favorite hat—after all, she wouldn't keep wearing it if she wasn't a fan of the design.
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The hat certainly has the right pedigree. It was designed by Fletcher for Lock & Co. Hatters, a millenary brand that dates back to the 1600s. According to Forbes, it's the 34th oldest family-owned business in the world—and, perhaps unsurprisingly, holds two royal warrants.
Fletcher has been designing the brand's women's collection since 1993. She can be counted on to produce 15 new styles a season, per the New York Times (that's on top of the bespoke hats she creates for clients like Kate). On the Lock & Co. Hatters's website, it credits Fletcher's expertise for launching the brand's foray into "haute millinery."
The brand is "the ultimate authority on hats in Britain," the Tatler's Ailsa Miller told the New York Times. "Having a hat from there is not a status symbol, like an 'It' bag or a flashy thing. It is more just being in the know and you knew to go to the right place."
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This article originally appeared on Town&Country.