Royal Ascot week was always one of my favourite weeks of the year - it was exhausting, following on from Trooping the Colour and Garter Day, with some polo in the mix too, and by the end of the week everyone was ready for a holiday to recover. My Ascot photos were not taken at the racecourse itself, but of the royal procession that was the highlight of each day, with the carriages driven along the racecourse before arriving by the grandstand for The Queen and her party to alight to enjoy an afternoon of racing. Until 2001 there were four days of Royal Ascot, with a less prestigious meeting on the Saturday, which The Queen attended but without any fanfare. To celebrate her Golden Jubilee, in 2002, it was decided to add a day to the royal meeting, and since then there have been five days of processions, with some races moved around the schedule to maintain the racing quality each day.
Originally The Queen would ride in the first carriage, accompanied by Prince Philip and her two most senior male guests, each following carriage would have two ladies and two gentlemen on board, in order of seniority, meaning that most couples did not ride in the same carriages as each other, as there was an imbalance within the royal family itself, with more ladies usually attending each day, and there were always "spare wives" relegated to the detached motorcars following the carriages, for whom I often felt a little sorry - unless it was a wet day, in which case they certainly had the better journey from the castle to Ascot! If the Duke of Edinburgh was not present then The Queen Mother would accompany her daughter in the first carriage. Things started to change a little from 2002 onwards, and in the last few years that The Queen attended Royal Ascot, without Prince Philip, she was accompanied by the senior lady guest in his place, which gave some interesting and sometimes unexpected pictures. Nowadays it is totally different. The King and Queen travel in carriage one, and there is a tendency for couples to sit together, regardless of seniority, although the numbers are better balanced now within the royal family. Seeing the carriages set off on the final part of their long trek from Windsor each day, once they had their passengers aboard, used to be amazing. It has all changed now, and I am not sorry not to go any longer - as with many things, I was there for the best of it, and it isn't the same now.
It was, though, a wonderful chance to have some amazing picnics and to photograph Her Majesty in a great many different hats over many years, and I have included a number of them here.