keeping up with the royals

Meghan Markle Wears Her Most British Hat Yet

Meghan Markle at Royal Ascot.
Meghan Markle at Royal Ascot. Photo: Samir Hussein/WireImage

On Tuesday, Meghan Markle celebrated her one-month royal wedding anniversary (can you believe it’s already been a whole month??) in the most noble way imaginable: by wearing her most British hat yet at the very fancy Royal Ascot horse race with her husband, Prince Harry, and basically his entire extended family.

Meghan, as you’ll recall, is American — specifically, Californian — by birth and is still in the process of becoming British by marriage, as she purportedly recently applied for a U.K. visa. She’s still new to the whole elaborate-hat thing that the British aristocracy covets.

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry at Royal Ascot.
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry at Royal Ascot. Photo: Chris Jackson/Getty Images

So far we’ve seen her in subtle berets (at royal church services, mostly, though she also wore an American-esque floppy hat one time, oops) as well as chic hats from top milliner Philip Treacy at two royal events over the past month. This weekend, she took her British hat-wearing to the next level when she wore an actual fascinator to a wedding.

And on Tuesday, her British-looking hat transformation seemed to be complete, as Meghan was spotted at the Royal Ascot in a modern-ish, sculptural black-and-white hat with a translucent trim. If you wanted to liken the hat to a building (maybe you are into architecture?), we’d say it looks like a British hat version on the Sydney Opera House.

Meghan Markle arriving at Royal Ascot.
Meghan Markle arriving at Royal Ascot. Photo: Chris Jackson/Getty Images

Meghan’s horse race hat was also designed by Philip Treacy, but her actual outfit was not made by a British brand — instead, her white dress is from from the house of Givenchy, which notably designed her royal wedding dress and road-trip-with-the-queen attire. However, the house is led by the U.K.-born designer Clare Waight Keller, so it’s still pretty British if you think about it.

It’s been a true honor witnessing this transformation.

Meghan Markle Wears Her Most British Hat Yet