Celebrities, punters, and the usual guard of Britain’s upper crust are dusting down their tails and practising how to conceal their giant new hat’s fiddly elastic under their hair — for Royal Ascot 2024 has arrived.
The five-day affair started with cigar smoke, sunshine and a smile from King Charles on Tuesday, June 18. It was a strong turnout from the royals, with sightings of Queen Camilla, unmissable in a Cobalt blue outfit from Fiona Clare Couture, Princess Anne, wearing a red, embroidered dress coat, Zara Tindall, who opted for a puff-sleeve, lemon Laura Green dress with gold flying-saucer boater, and Princess Eugenie in mint green Diane von Furstenberg.
Joining the fold was Lady Gabriella Kingston four months after the death of her husband Tom Kingston. She arrived, wearing a floral, collared Catherine Walker & Co dress and an on-trend Bottega Veneta clutch, in horse-drawn carriage with the Princess Royal and Peter Phillips, before being greeted with a hug from Tindall in the parade ring.
The starry hotspot on the first day was the Royal Enclosure’s ‘The Summer House’, where guests — having being dropped off in their Wheelys, this year’s “Official Chauffeur” — mingled over free-flowing Moët. Penny Lancaster, wife of Rod Stewart, certainly made an entrance carrying a parasol made of fresh flowers, and joined the likes of footballer Theo Walcott and rapper Bugzy Malone.
London fashion designer Daniel W. Fletcher is Royal Ascot’s first creative director this year, and as such filled the garden tables with dapper looking boys who gave the traditional dress code playful twists. “I wanted to take a fresh approach to how people dress at the races. The dress code for Royal Ascot remains unchanged but I wanted to explore what you could do within them to be the most creative,” he said, regarding his style guide for the event.
“Let’s seize the opportunity to be brave.” One of his guests turned heads in a metres-long tailcoat.
As for the more questionably dressed, Beyoncé’s “cowboycore” appears to have made it to the races, with a handful of attendees pairing a country western hats with their gowns or, in one case, a white, fringed suit. This ain’t Texas, ladies.
Leading arrivals on Tuesday were the Princess of Wales’ parents Carole and Michael Middleton, who made their first public appearance since their daughter’s cancer diagnosis. Zara Tindall, in a cotton, printed dress from Anna Mason, arrived with husband Mike for their second day running, but it was Elizabeth Hurley, sporting a £3,900 long-sleeved, white lace and floral embroidered dress and hat which resembled an emptied fruit basket, who ignited the most buzz upon arrival.
The royal procession was lead by Queen Camilla at 2PM, joined by Prince William and Peter Wood, The Earl of Halifax. Completing the jovial pack was Prince Edward, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie and their mother, Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York.
The best dressed guests at Royal Ascot
Day two
Day one
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