As a Briton I am rather embarrassed to confess that it was my very first visit to the Royal Ascot. All throughout my life I had dreamt of attending, and year after year I told myself I would go only to find that somehow I never actually got round to going. I do feel a bit ashamed, particularly as the Ascot is only 25 minutes away from me! This summer I finally made it there when a very special invitation came from Stella Artois to join them in the private box. I was going to get to spend the day in real luxury, surrounded by some wonderful people in our own private box and see The Queen in person!
The dress code for the Royal Enclosure is much more stricter than for those who only plan on spend time in the grandstand area which meant I needed to hold of a full suit with a tailcoat, and a top hat. Luckily, I have lots of PR contacts and only had to contact one person – the wonderful PR lady at Austin Reed. She very willingly, and kindly, supplied everything within a couple of hours for free.
My train journey to the venue was brilliant fun, as everyone on it were also heading to the Royal Ascot. It was Ladies’ Day too which is my favourite of all the days at the event, simply because I love seeing all the hats! The more, the better!
In my private box there was a small group of invited guests in attendance, hosted by some very lovely people from Stella Artois. I was made to feel extremely welcome and we all had a good banter about placing our bets for the races of the afternoon. We had an unbelievable view of the track and grandstand from the balcony. Flags were supplied and waved when The Queen took part in the traditional parade down the racecourse. It was a glorious moment.
Later on, I went down to the ground floor and toured the venue as I was eager to check out all the stylish outfits and wanted to mingle with some more people. Hats in all shapes and sizes, and in all colours where out in force. I had never seen so many well, so elegantly dressed ladies in one place. There were so many of them wherever I turned my head, and so many more as I walked. They were all incredibly lovely. I even got approached by a few people saying they follow my blog and one lady who was too shy to approach me had asked her friend to go to me to ask if she could wear my hat for a couple of minutes (pictured above). I happily obliged! It was one of the best days out I had had in years – one of those moments where you say to yourself that you should have done it years ago.
Throughout the day I kept returning back to the private box for some more food, drinks and mingling. My fellow VIP guests turned out to be the loveliest group of people. I met two wonderful older couples who fed me with words of wisdom and amazingly one bride-to-be had asked me to attend her wedding and go on a shopping trip with her to style her fiance!
The evening ended on such a high note as after the last race was over, everyone participated in a sing-along of traditional British songs on the bandstand lawn which was very, very special. It marked a truly remarkable day, and I am deeply grateful to Stella Artois for the unforgettable experience.
