Royal Ascot racegoers were a riot of colourful hats as they celebrated Ladies’ Day with a display of the weird and wonderful.
Ostrich feathers, pipe-cleaner flowers and even a miniature chair were some of the creations worn on the heads of racing fans at the famous Berkshire meet.
Charles and Camilla were joined in the royal box by Hollywood star Stanley Tucci and wife Felicity Blunt, alongside the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, and the Princess Royal and husband vice admiral Sir Tim Laurence.
The King and Queen have taken on the late Queen’s role as racing’s most high-profile supporters and they are expected to attend every day of the five-day meet.
Among other celebrity guests at the race course were singer James Blunt, the Princess of Wales’s mother Carole Middleton, Anne’s daughter Zara Tindall and presenter Holly Willoughby.
Ladies’ Day traditionally sees female racegoers pull out all the fashion stops and Angela Menz was wearing a hat shaped as a bouquet of flowers made from coloured pipe cleaners, complete with paper-like wrapping.
Ms Menz, an Australian milliner and designer who had flown from Melbourne to attend Royal Ascot, said: “My inspiration was to take something ordinary and make something special from it because in millinery the materials can be really expensive.
“I love the pomp and formality of the day, that’s what attracts me to Royal Ascot. I’ve been a few times and I love coming here, we’ve got the Melbourne Cup and you’ve got the Gold Cup.”
Hat designer Odette, real name Joan Ma, one half of couture millinery Odette and Elliott, created a hat in the form of a miniature chair that looked as if it was about to fall off the model’s head.
She said: “A lot of the times I think there are so many hats that are decorated with flowers I just wanted to try something different.”It looks as if someone has precariously balanced a chair on one’s head and I like the fact it’s very simple and quite restrained.”
During their day at the races, Charles and Camilla saw another of their Royal Ascot hopefuls well beaten, with their horse Golden Orbit finishing outside the top three places in the Ribblesdale Stakes.
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