The Royal Head Count

Queen Elizabeth II’s visit has prompted many elevator conversations about those hats. The bonnet buzz began on the first day of Her Majesty’s 10-day U.S. visit. As she stood behind the lectern at the White House delivering her opening remarks, all that could be seen of the good queen was a bobbing boater. She finished her official visit in Texas Tuesday wearing a sailor hat. By then she had visited a housing project in a woven straw hat, addressed a joint session of Congress in a bowl-shaped chapeau, attended church in a flower-bedecked boater and knighted Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf in a circlet of braided straw. The queen is said to favor hats by British milliner Frederick Fox and designer Hardy Aimes.