Queen Elizabeth’s Hats Had Flowers From the Most Unexpected Place

The most iconic hats in royal history were made with decorations from...Ikea.

Over the course of her impressive 70-year reign, Queen Elizabeth II established herself as not only a beloved and celebrated monarch, but also as one of the royal family's most cherished fashion icons. On most occasions, she adhered to a rather strict uniform. Although she donned an array of royal robes, jewels, and tiaras for evening affairs, her daytime royal appearances were a little different. Typically, she sported a vibrant monochromatic skirt suit along with a matching hat complete with some kind of elaborate decoration.

It's fair to say Elizabeth's wide range of fabulous hats were truly iconic. In fact, it's not an exaggeration to suggest that Elizabeth's dedication to her hats changed fashion history forever. As milliner Philip Treacy said in an episode of the BBC's Desert Island Discs in 2018, "Her Majesty the Queen has kept hats alive in the imagination of people all over the world...hats are part of the culture of Englishness and of Britishness."

In a recent interview with Marie Claire, the late queen's personal milliner, Stella McLaren, shared exactly how these historic hats were made—and some of the details are pretty surprising.

Apparently, the queen's personal dresser, Angela Kelly, was always involved in the designing process. Kelly would “pick the fabric and shape.” Added McLaren, “It was always a team effort.”

According to the milliner, Kelly often found her materials at stores that were downright unexpected. "Angela's got a great eye for just picking up stuff," said McLaren. "Even if we were at Ikea, she'd pick out flowers and say, 'You're gonna use them,' and I'd go, 'Alright.' They weren't really hat flowers but I'd pull them apart and do things to them." That's right—the queen wore hats decorated with fake flowers bought at Ikea! (It's unclear if she ever sampled the meatballs.)

McLaren worked for the royal family's two milliners from 1966 and, in 2008, was hired as the queen's personal on-site milliner.

"There had never been a milliner there before," McClaren recalled.

Over time, McLaren began to work even more closely with the queen. "As the queen cut her commitments down, I became her part-time dresser and traveled to Balmoral, Sandringham, and Windsor," she said.

McLaren and Elizabeth became "close," with Elizabeth allegedly giving her the nickname of "little Cockney lady."

Said McLaren: "She liked me and Angela because we're normal, and we used to have such a laugh around her. [Queen Elizabeth] used to be really chuckling away.”

After Elizabeth's death in 2022, it was reported by Brian Hoey, author of Not In Front of the Corgis that her clothes were likely given away to her dressers—in other words, to Kelly and McLaren.

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