Racing dreams dashed for King and Queen on opening day of Royal Ascot

Charles and Camilla watched from the royal box as Reaching High lost in the Ascot Stakes with 25-1 shot Kizlyar victorious, as thousands of racegoers cheered on their horses.

They were joined by the Princess Royal and her newlywed son Peter Phillips and his wife Harriet Sperling to take in the racing spectacle, alongside other guests who included the Queen’s son Tom Parker Bowles.

Peter and his wife enjoyed their first Royal Ascot carriage procession as a royal married couple and seemed delighted by their time in the royal box and were pictured laughing.

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Among the celebrity racegoers were Spice Girl Geri Halliwell and her husband Christian Horner, TV chef Merry Berry, West End musical impresario Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber and American singer Vanessa Williams.

The couple acknowledged the difficulties in winning at the world-famous Berkshire meet in a message in the official programme.

“As owner breeders ourselves, we know how hard it is to win races at Royal Ascot and wish our fellow breeders, both at home and abroad, the best of luck in this most fascinating of challenges,” they wrote.

Charles and Camilla took on the late Queen’s stable of horses and have become enthusiastic and passionate race horse owners and enjoyed their first Royal Ascot win in 2023 when their thoroughbred Desert Hero won the King George V Stakes.

They will be hoping for better luck later this week as they have another four horses entered in the sporting event, one of the highlights of the flat racing calendar.

The King did get his hands on a trophy when he presented the honours in the aptly named King Charles II Stakes won by Mission Central and trained by Aidan O’Brien.