Thursday was Ladies’ Day at Royal Ascot, and we were treated to fabulous fashion, a royal victory, and diamonds from the collection of the late Queen Elizabeth II. What a day at the races!
For the third day in a row, King Charles III and Queen Camilla rode in the first carriage in the traditional procession for their arrival at Ascot Racecourse.
They were joined in the carriage by the King’s cousin, the Earl of Snowdon, and Sir Mark Prescott, a celebrated horse trainer.
The King—pictured here speaking with Sir Francis Brooke, the Chairman of Ascot Authority (Holdings) Limited—wore gray for Thursday’s trip to the races.
He secured his tie with a small pin featuring a cabochon sapphire surrounded by a quartet of small diamonds.
Queen Camilla again turned to two of her go-to fashion sources, the designer Anna Valentine and the milliner Philip Treacy, to create her mint green Ascot ensemble for Thursday.
With the coat dress and hat, she wore pearl drop earrings with flame-shaped diamond studs and her four-stranded pearl choker with the round diamond clasp.
But it was her brooch that caught the eye of so many royal watchers on this particular occasion. An official press release noted that Queen Camilla was wearing a “diamond brooch that belonged to Queen Elizabeth II.”
That press release offers us a little bit of provenance for a brooch that has been something of a mystery. Camilla wore the brooch last year on Christmas Day in Norfolk. There was speculation at the time that the brooch might have come from Queen Elizabeth II’s collection, and now we have confirmation that that is indeed the case.
And speaking of the late Queen’s jewelry! The Princess Royal was in carriage number two on Thursday, riding beside her husband, Vice-Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence. Joining them in the carriage were Sheikh Hamad bin Abdullah Al Thani (the CEO of QIPCO, a major commercial partner of Royal Ascot) and Lord Soames of Fletching (who we also saw attending the races on Wednesday).
Princess Anne wore her diamond, gold, and pearl earrings from Andrew Grima, plus a modern gold brooch with emerald accents.
She also wore a triple strand of pearls—the same necklace that many believe was bequeathed to her by her mother, Queen Elizabeth II.
Two more Windsors were in the procession’s third carriage: Lady Sarah Chatto, daughter of Princess Margaret, and her husband, Daniel. They were joined by Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen, a member of the House of Lords and one of the Queen’s companions, and her husband, Colin.
Lady Sarah is always one of the most elegantly-dressed women of the family, and her appearance on Thursday at Ascot didn’t disappoint. She wore a pearl necklace with a special pair of diamond and pearl drop earrings. The earrings belonged to Princess Margaret, and Sarah wore them on her wedding day in 1994.
The fourth carriage brought along several prominent members of the racing world. The King’s racing advisor, John Warren, was there with his wife, Lady Carolyn Warren (daughter of the 7th Earl of Carnarvon, better known as Queen Elizabeth II’s friend “Porchey”). They rode alongside racehorse trainer John Gosden and his wife, the lawyer and racehorse owner Rachel Hood.
Several members of the royal family opted to skip the carriages and head directly to the racecourse. The Duchess of Edinburgh attended Thursday’s races with her father, Christopher Rhys-Jones. (He’s a spry 92 years old!)
Sophie wore a colorful Suzannah dress with a pansy print for Thursday’s outing.
She accessorized with pieces from her collection of jewels set with bright blue gemstones.
Also in the parade ring was Zara Tindall, who wore a lace dress with gold jewelry.
The day was a particularly exciting one for the new King and Queen, whose horse, Desert Hero, was victorious in the King George V Stakes.
King Charles and Queen Camilla were cheering him on loudly from the royal box.
Delightfully, they received their trophy for the victory from yet another member of the royal family: the late Queen’s cousin, the Duke of Kent.
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