Anthony Eden Hat - The Trilby and The Homburg

The Trilby and The Homburg

The Homburg had initially been popularised in Britain by King Edward VII who often visited Bad Homburg in Germany. It was essentially a more rigid variant of the trilby which had been fashionable since George du Maurier's novel of that name was published in 1894. The writer and broadcaster Rene Cutforth recalled in the 1970s that

one of things that strikes me most about the Thirties scene when I think about it now is the trilby hat, the universal headgear of the middle classes ... ometime early in the century, it must have been a wild gesture of freedom and informality ... By the thirties it had certainly become degenerate ... It was a hat which had lost all aspiration: it had become a mingy hat ...".

In such circumstances Eden's adherence to the Homburg seemed fresh and dashing. He is one of only two British Prime Ministers to have had an item of clothing named after him, the other being the Duke of Wellington (his boot).