THE QUEEN is a fan favourite at Royal Ascot
IS IN HIGH SPIRITS AS SHE RETURNS TO THE RACES
The Queen’s beaming smile was like a ray of sunshine as she attended the last day of Royal Ascot to watch four of her horses run in one of her favourite events in the racing calendar.
It washer first and only appearance at this year’s five-day Berkshire meet and when an announcement went out – “Ladies and gentlemen, we are pleased to announce that Her Majesty the Queen will be arriving at the Parade Ring at 2pm” – the racecourse erupted in whoops of joy, excited applause and revellers singing God Save the Queen.
“It felt so good to be back at Ascot and everyone was in high spirits,” a racegoer told hello!.
“But the loudest cheers of the day came when the Queen arrived in the Parade Ring during the national anthem. She couldn’t stop smiling and seemed absolutely thrilled to be there.”
Instead of being part of a carriage procession, Her Majesty was chauffeur-driven into the grounds, smiling and waving from the back seat of the regal State Bentley.
She emerged looking elegant in an Angela Kelly ensemble: a pleated mint- green coat over a floral dress and a hat decorated with eyecatching pink roses, teamed with her Palm Leaf diamond brooch, inherited from the Queen Mother in 2002.
Passionate about racing and horse- breeding, the 95- yearold monarch is a regular at
‘The loudest cheers of the day came when the Queen arrived’
Ascot and had not missed it throughout her entire 69- year reign until coronavirus restrictions were put in place last year.
She cheered on her own horses – Reach for the Moon, Tactical, Light Refrain and King’s Lynn – whose jockeys wore her distinctive purple and gold silks, and looked thrilled when one finished in second place and another in third. After inspecting them in the ring, she waved happily to the crowd as she was driven from the racecourse back to Windsor.
Despite having no winners at Ascot, the Queen was celebrating after one of her prize bulls did her proud at the Royal Highland Show at the Ingliston showground near Edinburgh.
Mighty Gusgurlach of Balmoral, a two-yearold home-bred bull that belongs to her fold of Highland cattle, was named overall champion at the live-streamed event.
The Queen has been raising prize cattle since 1953, but the estate keeps its winning ways close to its chest. When asked the secret of the rearing process, her stock manager Dochy Ormiston said: “If I told you, everybody would be doing it.”