It was the wildly elaborate fascinator that sparked its own Facebook site entitled Princess Beatrice’s Ridiculous Royal Wedding Hat.
Now the public is to be given the chance to buy the designer Philip Treacy headwear worn by the princess to William and Kate’s wedding.
Good-natured Beatrice, 23, is to auction it on eBay to raise funds for Unicef and her mother the Duchess of York’s charity, Children In Crisis. From today, collectors will be able to bid for the one-off design which would have cost up to £1,000 to make.
A royal source said: “She really does have a sense of humour. She knows the world had a bit of a laugh at her but this is hopefully a way of turning the attention into something positive.”
Philip Treacy created 36 hats for the royal wedding, including for Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall; Princess Eugenie; Princess Michael of Kent, Queen Anna-Marie of Greece; Victoria Beckham; and Sam Branson’s girlfriend, Isabella Calthorpe.
The next royal bride-to-be - Zara Phillips - also shone in a flamboyant blue creation.
Treacy’s often gravity-defying designs can be spotted on some of society’s most fashionable heads including Joan Collins, Britney Spears and Boy George.
The son of a Galway baker, he charges around £2,000 for a custom design.
The 43-year-old was hailed as a genius when he started out in the late Eighties and was adopted by Isabella Blow, the Tatler style editor who also championed fashion designer Alexander McQueen.
Treacy admits that, thanks to the poultry his mother kept at home during his childhood, there’s a chicken theme running through his creations.
A noted eccentric, he once declared his Jack Russell, Mr Pig, was his closest friend. - Daily Mail