Elspeth A. Lodge

The daring Philip Treacy hat Princess Beatrice wore to the royal wedding caused a flurry of criticism in the fashion world, but many remain fascinated by the now famous fascinator.

The princess has been using the hat’s attention for a worthy cause– she put it up for auction on eBay in order to aid UNICEF and Children in Crisis charities.

“Ending on Sunday, bidding on the auction has now reached a whopping £20,200, with Australian children’s group The Wiggles bidding £17,500 for the wacky headpiece,” reports Marieclaire.co.uk.

“She may have attracted a marmite reaction for her ensemble at Kate Middleton and Prince William’s wedding,” says the publication,”but it seems Princess Beatrice is having the last laugh after all with her eBay antics.”

The princess posted her reaction to the popularity of the hat on her hat’s eBay page:

“I’ve been amazed by the amount of attention the hat has attracted,” she says.

“It’s a wonderful opportunity to raise as much money as possible for two fantastic charities.”

In another interview she said “It’s an incredible response to that hat really, I’m glad it provoked so much conversation, I think it’s wonderful that it’s had a reaction, it is just a hat after all, and now it has got its own Facebook page and so many fans.”

The hat has even been promoted by Victoria Beckham who tweeted ‘Any hat lovers out there???’The hat’s Facebook page has seen lots of activity and fans are certainly having fun posting fun pictures of the hat:

As a royal reporter, I love a juicy story as much as the next person, but lately people seem to believe anything they read regarding the royal family.I would like to take a moment to urge anyone who reads the news to pay attention to the sources a writer cites, because this is a good way to judge the validity of a story. It seems like this would be common sense, but you’d be surprised at how many people don’t pay attention to sources and believe everything they read.

So, how do you know if a source is dependable? This is hard. It generally takes an experienced reporter to sort out the fact from the fiction in an article– Or one who knows the subject they are reading about in depth. This is why it is SO important that reporters have connections– the more reliable people who can confirm a story the better. But, for those who aren’t used to sifting through information and don’t have contacts to confirm a story there are a few rules of thumb to follow when reading an article.

I would go through the below checklist when trying to judge the validity of a story:

1)    Who: Who wrote the article and what are his or her credentials? Research the author and look at their publishing history. What subjects do they usually cover? Are they an expert in the field they are discussing? Be wary of any article without an author listed, unless looking at a “known” reliable information source like Thomson Reuters, AP, etc.

2)    Where: Where did the author get his or her information?

3)    When: When was the piece written? You would be surprised at how many readers don’t pay attention to dates.

4)    Why? Why does the resource exist? Is it for entertainment value, does it have a bias? Is it the author’s intention to persuade you of something? Or is it simply delivering information?