If there’s one accessory Melania Trump uses like punctuation, it’s a hat. On her UK visits—2019 with Queen Elizabeth II and now 2025 with King Charles III—she’s leaned on wide brims, sculpted crowns and strict palettes to telegraph formality, mystery and just a little theatre.

2025: Windsor goes wide-brim (again)

The grape-purple show-stopper

For the Windsor Castle welcome, Melania arrived in a low-slung, grape-purple wide-brim hat that threw her face into shadow—signature Melania. The brim’s angle did the talking: ceremonial but aloof, fashion as visor.  Harper's BAZAAR+2Vanity Fair+2

More runway-level coverage of the same hat: The Cut’s take on her “fashion disguise,” plus a style recap tying the look to a Dior suit. The Cut+1

The travel nod to Britain

En route to the UK, she wrapped up in a Burberry trench; not a hat moment, but it set a diplomatic fashion tone that framed the headwear to come. Useful for scene-setting photos in your post. Page Six

(Context around the day’s styling—and how her look contrasted with Catherine’s burgundy and Jane Taylor hat—can help your captioning.) Vogue

Flashback: the 2019 state visit with Queen Elizabeth II

“My Fair Lady” white hat at Buckingham Palace

On Day 1, Melania paired an ivory coat-dress with a structured white hat that drew instant “My Fair Lady” comparisons—classic, prim, and very London pageantry. 

D-Day 75 in Portsmouth: Philip Treacy discipline

For the national D-Day commemoration, she switched to a cream/ivory hat credited widely to Philip Treacy, paired with The Row—the effect was respectful, pared-back and distinctly “royal-adjacent.” 

Why these hats work on the UK stage

Low brims = instant formality and camera control; monochrome palettes = diplomatic neutrality; heritage milliners (Dior references, Philip Treacy) = a nod to European ceremony. Several outlets clocked the deliberate “matching” moment at Windsor.