Did Queen Elizabeth’s ‘EU hat’ carry coded Brexit message? Dresser Angela Kelly explains choice of outfit
- Worn at opening of parliament in 2017, bold blue hat with yellow flowers bore uncanny resemblance to EU flag
- Queen’s attire often interpreted as relaying subliminal messages from monarch constitutionally bound to remain mute on political issues of the day
Queen Elizabeth’s wardrobe is often interpreted as relaying coded messages from a monarch constitutionally bound to remain mute on political issues of the day.
So when she wore a bold blue hat with yellow flowers bearing an uncanny resemblance to the EU flag during the state opening of parliament in 2017, many thought it carried serious import. Could it be, Twitter asked, that Her Majesty was a remainer?
The image even prompted Guy Verhofstadt, the European parliament lead negotiator on Brexit, to tweet: “Clearly the EU still inspires some in the UK.”
Alas, the truth, it would appear, is more mundane. Angela Kelly, the queen’s dresser for a quarter of a century, has set the record straight in her book, The Other Side of the Coin: The Queen, the Dresser and the Wardrobe.
It was pure coincidence, Kelly states in her book, said to have been personally approved by the queen, and serialised in Hello! magazine.
Of the hat, Kelly writes “it never occurred to her” or to milliner Stella McLaren that the hat would be compared to the EU flag, which consists of a circle of 12 yellow stars against a blue background.
