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Queen Elizabeth IIThe Sussexes

The Duke & Duchess of Sussex attend Royal Ascot alongside The Queen and other royals

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex were among the members of The Royal Family to attend the first day of Royal Ascot on Tuesday.

Harry and Meghan took part in the carriage procession with other invited guests.

In the procession, they were seated in the third carriage alongside Harry’s uncle, Prince Edward and his wife, Sophie.

As always, The Queen led the carriage procession and sat in the first carriage alongside the Duke of York, the Princess Royal and the Master of the Horse, Lord Vestey.

James Brookes

In the second carriage were the Prince of Wales & Duchess of Cornwall alongside Princess Beatrice & Princess Eugenie.

Finally, in the fourth carriage were Prince & Princess Michael of Kent and Lord & Lady du Mauley.

Ascot Racecourse was founded back in 1711 by Queen Anne and since that time a further 11 monarchs have spent lots of time at the famous Royal race course.

James Brookes

The Queen attends Royal Ascot every year; alongside various other members of the Royal family who arrive each day in a horse-drawn carriage. The famous royal procession takes place at 2:00pm before the first race and includes the raising of the Royal Standard.

The Queen, like her mother before her, is an ardent and knowledgeable fan of racehorses and keeps a close eye on all of the horses she owns and that run under her colours.

The racecourse, however, owes its existence to a Queen that was on the throne just over three hundred years ago – Queen Anne. She founded the racetrack in 1711, and it is still on Crown Estates land and administered by the Ascot Authority by Act of Parliament.

The racecourse has seen many marvellous performances over the years, and was, of course, one of the highlights of the musical “My Fair Lady” with the “Ascot Gavotte”, and as mentioned earlier Frankie winning every race on the card on one occasion. It is one of the best racecourses in England, and because of that, almost a third of the Grade 1 races are run at the track (quite a few during the Royal meeting in June).

This being the case, the best owners, trainers and horses from all around the world, including HM The Queen are attracted to the track.

Additional reporting by Peter Anderson