Weird and wonderful hats turn heads on Ladies’ Day at Royal Ascot

Weird and wonderful hats turn heads on Ladies’ Day at Royal Ascot

Royal Ascot racegoers galloped past the winning post in the fashion stakes as Ladies’ Day saw a sea of weird and wonderful hats.

Nothing was too outlandish for some of the female guests, who wore everything from jungle scenes to bottles of champagne and even a lobster on their heads.

The famous meet, attended by the Queen every year, attracts the best jockeys and trainers in racing and fans of the sport from all walks of life who enjoy the fashion.

Lindsay Anderson, 57, had onlookers doing a double take with her champagne-themed top hat complete with a horse jumping over the brim and two champagne flutes.

A racegoer takes a selfie at Royal Ascot
A racegoer takes a selfie (Nigel French/PA)

Lindsay Anderson at Royal Ascot
Lindsay Anderson (Steve Parsons/PA)

“The string of pearls coming out of the top are bubbles – it’s just a bit of fun.”

Husband and wife Rebecca Johnson, 64, and Brian Mann, 69, from Wokingham, Berkshire, arrived in outfits decorated with rainbows.

While Ms Johnson had a multi-coloured hat and dress, her partner sported a waistcoat of many colours.

She said: “We spend a lot of time in Florida and during the spring we had a lot of rainbows from the tropical rain so we thought we’d bring a bit of colour to Ascot.”

Inga Kovalerova had made a hat with a lobster crawling out of a pot surrounded by strings of pearls.

Racegoers wearing large hats during day three of Royal Ascot
It was a colourful affair (Steve Parsons/PA)

Charlotte Ricard-Quesada, 30, amazed racegoers with her jungle-themed headpiece.

She said: “I came up with the idea of something tropical and wanted a toucan at the centre so I created it with (milliner) Pearls & Swine.

“It’s very lightweight but I’m having a bit of trouble with this wind.

“My dress is from Dolce & Gabbana and it’s covered with palm leaves, so it carries on the theme.”

Inga Kovalerova during day three of Royal Ascot
Inga Kovalerova (John Walton/PA)

The Queen’s pink hat meant punters had correctly backed the colour of the head of state’s hat for the third day running – a traditional bet at Royal Ascot.

Joining the Queen in the royal box was the Duke of York and his daughters Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, and the Princess Royal and her husband Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence.

Beatrice wore a Jonathan Simkhai dress and a hat by Sally-Ann Provan, while Eugenie was sporting an outfit by Erdem and a hat by the same milliner as her sister.

The Queen
The Queen dazzled in pink (Steve Parsons/PA)

William Hill spokesman Rupert Adams said the colour pink had been its 5-4 favourite, adding: “Punters have scored a hat-trick at Ascot after correctly predicting the Queen’s hat colour for the first three days.

“Let’s hope the England football team can do something similar and score a hat-trick on Sunday against Panama.”

The Queen presented Gold Cup winning Jockey Frankie Dettori with his prize after he triumphed in a close race, the blue riband event of Royal Ascot.

It was the famous jockey’s 60th Royal Ascot winner, his fourth this week, and his sixth Gold Cup success.

Earlier singer Alexandra Burke presented the winning trophies in the first race of the day the Norfolk Stakes.

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