Dressing up for Royal Ascot

Picture the scene: the pop and fizz of hundreds of champagne bottles, the sweet smell of trampled grass, show-stopping millinery, royalty and celebrities mingling cheerfully with the crowds, and, of course, the steaming coats of snorting, cavorting thoroughbreds. You couldn’t be anywhere other than Royal Ascot. 

Featuring the very best horses and jockeys from all over the globe, Royal Ascot is the cream of British horseracing – speed, agility and nail-biting finishes; this is entertainment in pre equine form. None of the five days’ races are commercially sponsored, and many reflect their regal origins: the Queen Anne Stakes (the first race of the meeting, in honour of the course’s founder), the Coronation Stakes and the Queen’s Vase (named for the accession of Queen Victoria). Each day at 2pm sharp, the present-day queen, a racehorse owner herself, helps put the “Royal” in “Royal Ascot” as she arrives in an open-top horse-drawn carriage, leading a procession from Windsor Castle down the middle of the course.

Ascot may be the world’s finest horseracing meet, but the majority of people are here for the social scene, the fine dining and the fashion show. Come equipped with a killer outfit – and an equally killer hat (the bigger, and more outrageous the better)   - you’ll fit right in. All that remains is to pack a sumptuous picnic, to be munched with friends by the side of the car (preferably a Porsche). But if you’d rather avoid the stress of providing your own fancy fodder, dine on lobster, smoked salmon or beef in one of the restaurants, accompanied by a bottle of champagne – just one of the 170, 000 that’ll be quaffed that day.