Princess Beatrice Royal Wedding Hat

About

Beatrice’s Hat is an exploitable image series featuring a unique bow hat worn by Princess Beatrice at the 2011 royal wedding. (See also: Aretha’s Hat)

Origin

During the Royal Wedding on April 29, 2011, there was an uproar over the hat Princess Beatrice was wearing. The intricate bow-like chapeau was created by hat designer Philip Treacy, who also made 35 other hats worn at the royal wedding.^[1]

Spread

After the wedding, BuzzFeed posted several pictures of Beatrice at the wedding, and users posted their own photoshops in the comments below.^[2] That same day The Huffington Post featured an article titled “Princess Beatrice’s Hat: Worst Ever?”.^[3] The single topic blog PrincessBeatricesHat.com^[4] and Tumblr Princess Beatrice and her Hat were created on April 29th as well.^[5]

A Facebook fan page was created that has over 126,000 “likes” and over 1,300 photos as of May 2nd, 2011.^[6]

Search

Ebay Auction

On May 23rd, 2011, Gawker reported that the hat had been sold on eBay for US $131,341.47, and the amount will be split between the charities Unicef and Children in Crisis. Princess Beatrice commented on the hat’s fame, and the decision to donate it to charity:

I’ve been amazed by the amount of attention the hat has attracted. It’s a wonderful opportunity to raise as much money as possible for two fantastic charities. I hope whoever wins the auction has as much fun with the hat as I have..^[7]

Notable Derivatives

External Links

^[1] Wikipedia – Philip Treacy

^[2] BuzzFeed – Princess Beatrice’s Hat / 4/29/2011

^[3] The Huffington Post – Princess Beatrice’s Hat: Worst Ever? / 4/29/2011

^[4]PrincessBeatricesHat.com

^[5] Tumblr – Princess Beatrice and her Hat

^[6] Facebook – Princess Beatrice’s ridiculous Royal Wedding hat

^[7] Gawker – Princess Beatrice Sells Internet Meme for $131K / 5/23/2011