Fancy Ladies at Royal Ascot!!

The day of Royal Ascot arrived!! My friends and I got all dolled up in our fancy dresses and bespoke hats and caught our taxi to the race course. 

A bespoke hat!

Once we arrived, we got ourselves a table, some champagne, betting forms, and proceeded to research the horses for our picks on each race. Oh, and people watching; we did lots & lots of people watching! 

Champagne and race forms

We took a moment to pose for a group shot before heading into the racecourse area to stake out our area for the rest of the day. 

Fancy dressed ladies

On our way into the racecourse, I got a good photo of one of the lawns with all of the decorations, people, and festivities. What fun!

Bunting, festivities, and fun

Right on schedule, the royal procession began. We had great "seats" (standing room only, but up on risers) - I still can't believe it, but I saw the Queen of England (in blue), her husband, the Duke of Edinburough (seated next to her), and Prince Harry. Princess Anne was also in the procession, but I saw her later, and only from the back. Everyone sang a rousing rendition of "God Save the Queen," and I honestly got goosebumps. 

The arrival of the Queen, Duke of Edinburgh, and Prince Harry

Once the Queen arrived, the race day officially began! I took the photo below of the crowds just before the first of six races. It really doesn't do justice to the amount of people who were there that day. It was PACKED!!

The raceway was very, very crowded!

I lost £2 on each of the first two races. In fact, my picks came in dead last on those two races. D'oh! I skipped betting on the 3rd race, and placed a split bet on the 4th and biggest race of the day, the Gold Cup. I bet £4 - £2 to win and £2 to show - my horse came in second place, so I won a whopping £3.60 on my £4 bet - woohoo!! 

After the Gold Cup race, we popped out of the grandstand and high tailed it over to the winners circle in time to see the winning horse and jockey honored by the Queen. 

The Gold Cup winning horse

The Queen hung out in the winner's circle for a solid ten minutes. We watched her chat with a bunch of other royals and royal hangers-on. Prince Harry came out for just a minute and hammed it up, it was a royal good time! 

The Queen of England