My friend and former neighbour Marie O’Regan, who has died aged 97, was a milliner who created more than 250 hats for Queen Elizabeth II.
She was born in Istanbul, Turkey, to Krikor Delalian and his wife, Varbara (nee Zazikian). In 1927 her father and brother, Harutyun, moved to Paris and two years later her mother followed with four-year-old Marie and her sister, Aurora – only to discover that Krikor had died of tuberculosis.
Having had her first taste of millinery at the age of 14, when she steamed her mother’s hat back into shape over a kettle, she left school to take on a succession of jobs in the workrooms of various Parisian firms, including Orianne, Legroux Soeurs and Maud Roser. Rising through the ranks, she ended up as a designer with the celebrated milliner Gilbert Orcel.
In 1959 Marie moved to the UK to work as a designer for the German-born, London-based milliner Otto Lucas, learning English at evening classes. Lucas proved to be a challenging employer, but respite came when she was invited to head Dior’s London-based millinery department.
Her reputation grew, and the royal designer Ian Thomas introduced Marie’s designs to Queen Elizabeth II. A bond formed between the two women during many visits to the palace as Marie designed and constructed scores of the Queen’s hats, receiving a royal warrant in 2005. The association diminished and ended prematurely (in Marie’s view) when Angela Kelly, the Queen’s dresser, took over responsibility for millinery design and production.
In 1965 Marie married Terence O’Regan, an actor and buddhist minister. When he died in 1981 she left Dior to teach at the London College of Fashion, later transferring to the Royal College of Art, where she established its millinery department. She retired from teaching there in 1985.
In 1999 Carol Denford, editor of the Hat magazine, invited Marie to demonstrate some of her techniques in a series of monthly illustrated articles, and this led her to give fortnightly millinery lessons at her home, which she enthusiastically embraced, providing attendees with lunch and champagne. It was only poor health that put a stop to those lessons at the age of 96.
I first met Marie when I became her neighbour. On one of my first visits next door, I asked about a framed royal warrant on her wall; she replied dismissively that she had made some hats for the Queen and then changed the subject; her relationship with royalty was something she treasured but hardly ever talked about. Later I made a film, The Millinery Lesson, about Marie.
She is survived by her children, Michael and Stephen, and two grandsons, Patrick and Daniel.
