Royal Ascot: Ladies Day and Crazy Hats

Guest Post by David Jones

On the back of the traditional Ladies Day at Royal Ascot, Doncaster will this month play host to some of horse racing's most glamorous fans when the season comes to an end at the St Leger Festival at Doncaster Racecourse. Along with the horse racing and betting fans, the festival will be attended by some of the fashionistas that have long given the sport a glamorous image. There will be hats from the sublime to the ridiculous (the pictures above show some of the more..er...creative choices you can spot at the Royal Ascot!), especially on Thursday which is Ladies Day at the racecourse. It's little surprise to see so much excitement building in the area in the run-up to the festival, women from around the world will be looking to walk away with the DFS Best Dressed Lady crown - a title which will earns the winner a place in the final of Yorkshire’s Best Dressed Lady 2014. Of course there has been much emphasis been placed on headwear, and milliners across the region have been bombarded with orders from clients looking to steal the show and walk away with the best dressed crown.

With almost 300,000 people attending the event during the week, including a bumper crowd on Ladies' Day, this year's Royal Ascot proved that horse racing is now as popular as it has been in many years. The Royal theme was consistent throughout the week, The Queen and Prince Phillip joined the thousands to witness the Gold Cup, and Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie were among the 80,000 who turned up on the fifth day of the event. While The Queen looked fantastic in pink, the young Princesses went for more modern looks than their grandmother, with Beatrice opting to following in Gran's footsteps by opting for a pink number alongside her gold head-dress. 

The Queen herself is an avid racing fan and horse owner, and was greeted with sensational sunshine on the fourth day of the event this summer. Her horses 'Estimate' and 'Bold Sniper' (the firm Betfair.com favourite) both finished second place in their races. While she wasn't able to replicate her 2012 achievement of owning a winning horse, The Queen will have surely been one of many happy punters heading home smiling at the end of another incredible week of action. It's fair to say that the event made the headlines for the quality of the fashion on display, as much as the actual horseracing!

What's the most elaborate hat you've ever seen at the Royal Ascot?