Royal Warrant Hat Shop in St James's: Rachel Trevor-Morgan

Rachel Trevor-Morgan makes the kind of hats that end up in newspaper photographs from Royal Ascot, and she makes them a few steps from St James's Palace. Her atelier and showroom is at 20 Crown Passage, King Street, St James's, London SW1Y 6PP, open Monday to Friday from 9:30am to 6pm. The shop's online price list starts with a wool beret called Celia at £125 and climbs to hand-finished silk pillboxes at £1,695 and more and nearly everything on the shelves is made by her own team in the studio.

Rachel's own biography says she has run the business for more than 35 years and works from her St James's atelier on private commissions. In 2014 she was granted the Royal Warrant of Appointment to Queen Elizabeth II, and the late Queen wore her hats at Royal Ascot, at the service at St Paul's for her 80th birthday, at her Diamond Wedding celebration in Westminster Abbey and when meeting President George Bush in Washington. She also makes hats for other members of the Royal Family.

Her route into the trade was theatrical. As a child she wanted to be an actress, which turned into a love of stage costume, and her mother's fondness for hats did the rest. She apprenticed with Philip Somerville and then with Graham Smith, whom she names as her biggest influence for his rigorous training in blocking and finishing. Her first studio was a shared attic in a Westminster monastery, and she sold her early pieces from a market stall at St Martin-in-the-Fields, a short walk from where the atelier stands today.

She is a liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Feltmakers and runs its annual millinery design competition for students, a founder member of the British Hat Guild, an adviser to the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust and a co-curator of Unveiled, the millinery exhibition held during London Craft Week. Her hats have been sold through Harrods and Fenwick and exported to the US and Japan.

Crown Passage is a narrow lane of small shops and a pub running between King Street and Pall Mall, so the atelier feels more like a workroom with a window than a department store hat hall. The website invites you to visit during weekday hours, but it steers serious buyers towards a consultation, and that is the way to get the most from the room. Fill in the booking form for an in-person appointment, or book a FaceTime session if you cannot travel.

Bring the outfit, or at least a good photograph of it. Every hat and headdress is handmade by the team in the studio, and the shop says pieces can be dyed to match your dress, so a swatch of fabric is more useful than a description. Staff will put several shapes on you, a disc, a pillbox, a sidesweep or a downbrim, and talk about balance with your hairstyle and the neckline you plan to wear.

Timing matters more here than at most hat shops. The booking page warns that the appointment book fills quickly in the run-up to Royal Ascot, so for June racing, book in the spring. The shop also groups its collections around Henley, Cheltenham, investitures and mother-of-the-bride dressing, which tells you what most clients come in for. In late October the showroom is stocked with the new Autumn/Winter 2026 couture and with felt and tweed pieces for winter weddings and race days.

Prices come from the shop's own online catalogue at racheltrevormorgan.com and include UK VAT. At the casual end, Celia is £125, a style called Polly is £145, Caro is £185 and Lola is £225. These are the hats to look at if you want something you can wear in the street rather than only at a wedding.

Occasion pieces sit higher. An Italian straw bucket hat is £495, the Audrey velour felt bell with a grosgrain bow is £995, and a teal straw beret trimmed with flowers and loops is £1,395. Silk pillboxes with hand-made camellias are listed at £1,695. The most elaborate couture, such as a black turban crescent with silk petals at £2,450 or a natural and black picture hat with a striped bow at £2,765, is made in very small numbers.

Remote help is part of the service. You can text the studio on WhatsApp with a photo of your outfit and receive pictures of suitable options, and the team offers personal shopping from whatever is ready to buy in the showroom that day. For visitors staying in London, the shop can deliver hats to your hotel, and off-the-peg purchases can arrive the same day.

If you only have one appointment, ask to see the pieces made in the studio for the current season rather than the archive. Ask how a hat will be secured, since perchers, discs and headbands are held with combs, elastic or a band, and that changes how they sit on fine or thick hair. If you are torn between two colours, ask to have the trim dyed to your outfit; that is the reason to buy from a working milliner rather than a shop.

Step out of Crown Passage on to King Street and you are by Christie's auction house, whose public viewing rooms are free to walk through before a sale. Turn the other way to Pall Mall and St James's Palace, where the Tudor gatehouse looks down St James's Street towards Piccadilly.

St James's Square, a few minutes east, has a garden with benches in the middle of the old clubland. North of Pall Mall, Jermyn Street has shirtmakers, a perfumer and a cheesemonger, and Lock & Co. Hatters on St James's Street is the oldest hat shop in the world, which makes this corner of London a good afternoon for anyone who likes hats. Green Park station is the nearest Tube.

Address: Rachel Trevor-Morgan, 20 Crown Passage, King Street, St James's, London SW1Y 6PP. Hours: Monday to Friday 9:30am to 6pm; weekend hours are not published. Nearest Tube: Green Park.

Prices quoted are from racheltrevormorgan.com: casual hats from £125, an Italian straw bucket hat £495, a velour felt bell £995 and couture pieces up to £2,765. Book a consultation online, especially before Royal Ascot.