Gun guard for the Queen at Ascot
A firearms officer protects Her Majesty yesterday
ELEGANCE was the watchword for Ladies Day at Royal Ascot yesterday.
The Queen set the tone, wearing a fuchsia pink coat and hat as she arrived at the Berkshire course from her nearby home at Windsor Castle accompanied by Prince Andrew.
Other royals in attendance included Princess Anne, Zara Phillips, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie and the Countess of Wessex but Prince Philip, recovering from an infection, remained at the castle.
In the crowd to see Big Orange win the day’s main race, the Gold Cup, was Good Morning Britain TV presenter Susanna Reid, 46, there with her show co-host Piers Morgan, 52, and showing wild excitement.
She too chose fuchsia pink for her dress but topped it with a mostly lilac fascinator hat with feather decoration.
Dramatic
Combining style with a daringly high cut dress showing her leg to the thigh was Melanie Mar from Los Angeles. She topped her pierced electric blue leather outfit with a dramatic royal blue hat and wore mile-high gold heels.
While most racegoers put their money on the horses, others bet on the colour the 91-year-old Queen would be wearing.
The pink she opted for was the favourite choice, leaving the bookmakers crying.
“We were on the back foot before racing even started as Her Majesty went with the form book and plumped for pink,” said the spokesman for Ladbrokes David Williams.
“Punters were flush with cash and not for the first time we’ve been left with red faces.”
For some the sartorial message was all about fun.
Marie Hudson, 76, there with friends from St Helens, Merseyside, sported a hamper on her head filled with champagne flutes, a bottle of bubbly, sweet treats and fruit.
“I just love Ascot, we come every year,” she said.
Milliner Tracy Rose took the prize for largest hat with a creation depicting a giant book of roses opening and spilling out flowers.
And Argentinian-born Paula Gibson, 59, who had travelled to Ascot with British husband Jonathan Gibson from their home in Amsterdam, needed two hands to steady her hat, a collection of exotic birds, owls, nests of eggs, butterflies, fruit – and even a frog.
She said: “I’ve been collecting the birds throughout the year then sat down last weekend and put the hat together.
“The festivities here are so British, I love it.”
The meeting drew an attendance of 68,320, up on 64,503 last year.