Rachel Trevor-Morgan

Rachel Trevor-Morgan is a British milliner best known for the hats she created for the Queen Elizabeth II.

In 2014, she was granted a Royal Warrant by the Queen.

Early life and career

The hat designer Rachel Trevor-Morgan was born in Stourbridge, West Midlands. Her father was a vicar and, as a child, she loved seeing her mother wear hats to church. She was a pupil at The Alice Ottley School in Worcester and, aged 19, moved to London intent on learning how to be a milliner.

She wrote to British milliner Graham Smith – hatmaker to Elizabeth Taylor, Joan Collins and Princess Diana among others – asking if she could see how he worked. He interviewed Trevor-Morgan and offered her an apprenticeship.

Royal commissions

Trevor-Morgan began making hats for the Queen in 2006 – initially she was invited to create six sketches for review and then some designs were made. The first of her models was worn by the Queen at her 80th birthday church service at St Paul's Cathedral.

From 2006, she had been one of the Queen's preferred milliners, creating some 60 hats (averaging ten a year) up to 2012. In 2014, Trevor-Morgan was awarded a Royal Warrant.

Other commissions

Trevor-Morgan still supplies London stores such as Fortnum & Mason as well as creating hats for private clients. All designs are bespoke, with fabric and straw dyed in the St James's studio. Trevor-Morgan has said she prepares her dyes in a saucepan, cooking them up to achieve exactly the right shade.