Royal Ascot

Since 1711, the kings and queens of England have been going to an annual horse racing event near Windsor which is considered one of the premier aristocratic social events of the year. This year, Sebastian went. All of the pomp and circumstance surrounding important contemporary horse racing events around the world (everyone getting dressed up, women wearing hats, etc) can be traced to Royal Ascot (also here). In the royal enclosure, men must wear top hats and tails and women must wear hats and elegant dresses. Even in the public sections, men wear suits and ties, women wear hats or fascinators. ('Fascinator' is the English word for a delicate, slightly frivolous head decoration which is like a hat, but is not quite a hat). This is the first event that Sebastian and the Queen have jointly attended.




The royal programme













Sebastian arriving at Royal Ascot







The Queen arriving at Royal Ascot








Pimms and lemonade












(The quintessential English summer beverage, not to be mistaken for iced tea)


Hats in front of us while we watched the races







Our favourite hat of the day (hard to see in this photo!)




The horses racing to the finish line






The Colliers at Royal Ascot 2009.
Incidentally, we bet on five horses in two races and we won £24.50 which was a 98% return on our investment

[we'll post a father's day photo or two later in the week...]