Latest news with #KingCharles
The Guardian
an hour ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Parades, picnics and parasols: Royal Ascot 2025
King Charles doffs his hat to the crowd as he enters the Royal Enclosure on day one. A young girl plays with a toy horse as other racegoers walk past. Studying the race card before the action gets under way. Colour co-ordinated racegoers. Suited and booted, big and small. A musician plays a harp near the Royal Enclosure. Reflections in the goggles of Dylan Browne McMonagle as he rides First Wave to the start of the St James's Palace Stakes. Racegoers consult the racecards and drink beer and champagne. Discarded chips on a hedge. Ryan Moore yanks off his goggles after being unplaced on the King's horse Reaching High in the 5th race, the Ascot Stakes. Fanning a friend to keep cool. Runners in the Copper Horse Stakes start from the stalls in front of the main stand. A horse gets washed down after competing in the final race of the day. Racegoers gather around the bandstand to sing songs after racing has finished. A fancy bit of shade as racegoers enjoy some pre-race sustenance on day two. An instruction on a gazebo in one of the car parks. Racegoers in the Royal Enclosure waiting for the royal procession to arrive. A racegoer takes a picture on a phone with a case containing a £20 note with a picture of Queen Elizabeth II on it. The stall loaders wait for the horses before the second race on day two. A hirsuted and booted racegoer. The boot of jockey Jim Crowley on board Anmaat as they walk to post before the Prince of Wales's Stakes. William Buick celebrates as Ombudsman wins The Prince of Wales's Stakes. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian The queue to get to the racecourse on the path from the station before the third day's racing. Racegoers use a flag to shade themselves while having a picnic in one of the car parks. The King's carriage circles the parade ring as the royal procession nears its end. Racegoers on the grandstand escalators. A racegoer with a colour co-ordinated fan. Charles Darwin, ridden by Ryan Moore, sprints clear to win the Norfolk Stakes. A champagne super handbag. Cheering on the runners in the third race, the Ribblesdale Stakes. Fancy headwear on Ladies Day. Trawlerman gets a sponge of water on the head after he wins the Gold Cup. Watching the horses in the parade ring before the sixth race, the Hampton Court Stakes. Looking into the Queen Anne Enclosure as the Hampton Court Stakes takes place.
News.com.au
5 hours ago
- General
- News.com.au
‘Real sense of panic': Kate Middleton sparks Palace ‘chaos'
Have you ever wondered what royal courtiers might look like in a flap? Maybe well-bred brows, sweating? Teacups nervously rattling in saucers? A fretful, 'Oh I say' here and there? This was the scene, or at least something like it I'm assuming, inside the palace this week after 'chaos' and 'panic broke out' when Kate, The Princess of Wales pulled out of a major event less than an hour before she was meant to arrive. It has now emerged that her last minute call to skip Ascot left royal aides 'bewildered and worried' and that 'rumours had briefly swirled around the palace that the future queen had been taken unwell and either needed to see a doctor or had been rushed to the hospital,' according to a new report. Oh I say! The full extent of the hullabaloo caused by the princess' about-face has been revealed by The Daily Beas t 's Tom Sykes whose unbeatable contacts paint a picture of the palace having been briefly pushed to the edge of a meltdown. On Wednesday, UK time Kate and her husband Prince William were slated to attend day two of Royal Ascot to enjoy their God-given right to drink champers in the sun and put 10 quid each way on a sure thing. Accordingly, the couple was listed in the official 'carriage list' put out by the palace of members of their royal family who would be arriving in clippety-clop regency style to the racecourse. But, less than an hour after the carriage list was published, and just over an hour before Kate was due to appear along with King Charles and Queen Camilla, the palace announced she had withdrawn. Cue the drammahhhh. Inside the palace, it was 'chaos', according to Sykes. 'Rumours … briefly swirled around the palace' that Kate 'either needed to see a doctor or had been rushed to the hospital,' he has reported. 'Everyone was wandering around going, 'What is going on?'' a former courtier told Sykes. 'One minute she was going, and the next she wasn't. This is one of the biggest days of the year in the royal calendar; you don't just miss Ascot on a whim, so there was a real sense of panic.' The good news is that none of these fears were borne out by the facts. The truth about what had gone one was reassuringly benign. As every single UK news story pointed out, Kate herself said exactly this time last year that she was 'taking each day as it comes'. Despite having announced in January this year she is remission, clearly this still holds. She was said to be 'disappointed' to not be up to attending Ascot. The Telegraph's royal editor Hannah Furness reported that 'there [was] no cause for alarm' and only that 'the Princess was mindful of treading a careful line as she returns to work.' A friend of Kate's has backed up this explanation too. They told Sykes: 'My understanding is that Kate was basically exhausted after Trooping the Colour on Saturday and Garter Day on Monday and couldn't face it. There are good days and bad days, as she herself has very candidly said.' That's the good news. The bad news is that the palace's handling of this situation suggests they have not exactly learnt that much since last year when we witnessed the months-long extraordinarily clumsy and inept royal mismanagement around Kate. Who can forget how the internet collectively lost its mind in early 2024 about Kate supposedly going 'missing' after having abdominal surgery? In the absence of any real information and in what felt like a squirrely royal climate, social media quickly filled the void with noxious conspiracy theories about Kate and William. The princess ditching Ascot immediately brought to mind the PR disaster that came at the peak of Kate-madness in February 2024 after William pulled out of his godfather King Constantine of Greece's memorial service only 45 minutes before it started, and despite it being held only minutes away from their Windsor home. The prince's abrupt cancellation only stoked the fires and led to more feverish speculation online. (As we all now know, several weeks later in March 2024, Kate would tell the world she had cancer.) While this week the princess was just 'exhausted', as the former coutrier told Sykes of the Ascot mess, 'The chaotic nature of the announcement was eerily reminiscent of the dark days of last year. People were bewildered and worried.' Kate wrote in June last year, 'I am learning how to be patient, especially with uncertainty.' A year on and the palace still does not seem to have much more of a clue how to manage communications around Kate's fluid health needs. You have to wonder if any lessons might have been learned since those 'dark days' of 2025. The best bit of news that came out of Wednesday's Ascot situation came courtesy of William. The princess might not have gone but the prince trotted along where he was photographed drinking beer with friends and having what looked like a cracking good time. The proof is in the pilsner. Panic over.
Daily Mail
9 hours ago
- Climate
- Daily Mail
Bet they wished they'd reined it in! Royal Ascot revellers spotted making their way home after a big day on their feet... in the 32.2C heat
Revellers at Royal Ascot spilled out onto the street as they were spotted heading home on the hottest day of the year so far. Drinks were flowing in the scorching heat and many racegoers were looking a little worse for wear after leaving the venue. Even King Charles was seen adjusting his tie in the tropical conditions as other racegoers cooled down with magnums of champagne and old-fashioned fans. And the going was stifling for the horses, who were doused in buckets of water as forecasters warned of a four-day heatwave set to see Britain turn hotter than Hawaii – with 34C (93F) expected in the South and East this weekend. Royal Ascot, known as the jewel in the crown of the UK racing calendar, will welcome hundreds of thousands of punters during the five-day meet. The term Ladies Day was first used in 1823 when an anonymous poet described the Thursday of the annual meeting as 'Ladies' Day … when the women, like angels, look sweetly divine.' While there is no official prize on offer for best dressed lady as there is at other race meetings, ticket holders were still eager to put their best foot forward. Stylish racegoers at today's event turned the racecourse into a sea of vibrant outfits as they donned bright prints to ensure they stood out from the crowd. One lady keeps cool with a handheld fan in the scorching sunlight Many of those arriving at the main spectators' enclosure opted for coordinating outfits with their friends too. However, the combination of the blistering sun and an indulgence of drinks proved tough for many. A large police presence was spotted throughout the Berkshire town to keep people in check. Fans were treated to an exciting day of racing as seven-year-old Trawlerman won the Gold Cup with his jockey William Buick. In a race that dates back to 1807, the horse on his 21st race sprung out of the starting stalls and never looked back. The horse which was ridden by legendary jockey Frankie Dettori eight times, began its career during the pandemic. But yesterday it had its finest hour in the two-and-a-half-mile race. Buick was congratulated by King Charles and Queen Camilla, who braved the heat in Berkshire. Taxi! Time to head home for this group of racegoers eager to get out of the sun Two ladies give their feet a rest after walking in heels at the races all day long Also amongst the punters for Ladies Day were famous faces such as former model Jerry Hall, who attended with her son Gabriel Jagger and daughter-in-law Anouk Winzenried. As temperatures soared in excess of 32C –almost 90F – racegoers clad in their finery, including full morning suits for the men, began dropping like flies. At least one person was taken to hospital and more than 40 treated for heat-related illness. The last time Britain reached 34C in June was almost six years ago on June 29, 2019, at Northolt and Heathrow. The record for the month is 35.6C (96.1F) on June 29, 1957, at Camden Square, central London. As The UK Health Security Agency issued a four-day amber heat health alert from noon yesterday until 9am on Monday, even Newcastle-upon-Tyne is forecast to hit 31C (87.8F) tomorrow. The agency warns 'significant impacts are likely' across health and social care services because of high temperatures, including a rise in deaths – particularly among those aged 65 and over. An official heatwave is logged when areas reach a certain temperature for three consecutive days, with thresholds varying from 25-28C (77-82F) in different parts. Temperatures are set to fall back to the mid-20s by the start of next week.
Daily Mail
11 hours ago
- Climate
- Daily Mail
Ascot 2025: Royals feel the heat as they face 32C temperatures at Ladies' Day on hottest day of the year so far
New royal favourite Harriet Sperling joked with the King on the hottest day of the year so far as she joined the family at Royal Ascot for the second time this week. But Peter Phillips ' NHS nurse girlfriend of more than a year kept her cool, despite Britain seeing highs of 32.2C at Kew, under an hour away, yesterday. Even King Charles was seen adjusting his tie in the tropical conditions as other racegoers cooled down with magnums of champagne and old-fashioned fans. And the going was stifling for the horses, who were doused in buckets of water as forecasters warned of a four-day heatwave set to see Britain turn hotter than Hawaii – with 34C (93F) expected in the South and East this weekend. Ms Sperling – who was honoured to join the monarch's carriage procession on Ascot's opening day – shone in a £725 'Sienna' lemon yellow dress from society favourite Beulah and a matching hat to keep the sun off. And all eyes were on her as she chatted easily with His Majesty, who looked delighted to see his nephew's girlfriend again. It will add fuel to rumours that an engagement may be on the cards – not least because Peter and Harriet were seen holding hands and kissing in the Royal Box. Paediatric specialist Harriet, 45, who has a daughter by a previous relationship, apparently met Princess Anne's son at a sporting event attended by both their children. She lives in Gloucestershire, as does Peter, 47, who has two daughters by Canadian ex-wife Autumn. There was certainly a family feel to yesterday's racing, with the King inviting the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh – who were celebrating their 26th wedding anniversary – to join him in the royal carriage procession down from Windsor Castle, along with his sister, Princess Anne, her husband Vice-Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, niece Princess Beatrice and her husband, Edo Mapelli Mozzi, as well his other niece Zara Tindall and her husband, Mike. Queen Camilla looked coolly elegant in a silvery blue coat dress by Anna Valentine and matching hat by Philip Treacy, along with the Jardine Star diamond brooch. The Berkshire racecourse has been enjoying record figures this week, and the King's other guests in his carriage – the Marquess and Marchioness of Salisbury – were so impressed at the sight of the huge crowds, that the latter pulled her phone from her bag and started filming them as their landau thundered down the course to cheers. It was Ladies Day at the meet, which attracted a host of celebrities and punters dressed to the nines, including former model Jerry Hall, who attended with her son Gabriel Jagger and daughter-in-law Anouk Winzenried. But as the mercury soared to temperatures in excess of 32C –almost 90F – racegoers clad in their finery, including full morning suits for the men, began dropping like flies. At least one person was taken to hospital and more than 40 treated for heat-related illness. As the Hawaii-topping highs of 34C were predicted for tomorrow, in contrast, Honolulu, capital of the US Pacific Island state, is only forecast to reach 29C (84F), while Barbados should hit 32C (89F). Ha-Bea-ness: Princess Beatrice watched on excitedly from the royal box The last time Britain reached 34C in June was almost six years ago on June 29, 2019, at Northolt and Heathrow. The record for the month is 35.6C (96.1F) on June 29, 1957, at Camden Square, central London. As The UK Health Security Agency issued a four-day amber heat health alert from noon yesterday until 9am on Monday, even Newcastle-upon-Tyne is forecast to hit 31C (87.8F) tomorrow. The agency warns 'significant impacts are likely' across health and social care services because of high temperatures, including a rise in deaths – particularly among those aged 65 and over. An official heatwave is logged when areas reach a certain temperature for three consecutive days, with thresholds varying from 25-28C (77-82F) in different parts. Temperatures are set to fall back to the mid-20s by the start of next week.
Telegraph
13 hours ago
- Sport
- Telegraph
Meet the 17-year-old who is riding for the King at Royal Ascot
You would be hard pressed to find any 17-year-old who has ridden for the King at Royal Ascot. So it is little wonder Warren Fentiman describes the prospect as 'mind-blowing'. The apprentice jockey will on Friday take the reins of Purple Rainbow on what is also his first festival racing in front of the King. It caps a dream start to a career in the saddle for the teenager, coming less than a fortnight after he scored a landmark win on Derby day at Epsom. Like the King, the teenager has the sport in his blood, with his father, Duran, also a jockey. Indeed, just last month, the pair raced against each other for the first time after the latter recovered from breaking a leg in four places in September. 💨💨💨 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐲 𝐈𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐭 (7-1) flies home from the rear in the @Betfred Dash @EpsomRacecourse @RichardFahey | @FentimanWarren — Racing TV (@RacingTV) June 7, 2025 But, despite boasting more than 400 winners, Fentiman snr has yet to ride for the Royal family, an honour that is about to be bestowed on his son in Friday's Sandringham Stakes. 'It's just mind-blowing that I'm riding for the King,' says Fentiman, whose tender years are all too clear when he refers to Charles as 'Your Majesty', rather than 'His Majesty'. The teenager, who is allowed to carry 5lb less weight until he scores 40 wins, adds: 'I've never thought about myself riding for the King ever. But doing it as a 5lb claimer, it's something to be proud of.' Remarkably, neither of his parents will be there to share the moment, with his father racing elsewhere this week. 'He wants all the pictures, videos, me ringing him flat out,' Fentiman says. 'Because he's never experienced the full week here.' He adds of his mother: 'Mum would love to come but she's doing a show with my little sister.' Fentiman will not be short of support, however, with plenty of family and 'close mates' in attendance. There are also those back home in North Yorkshire, including school friends who will now be doing A-Levels while he rides for the King. 'There'll be a few people that will just message me, saying, 'How are you?', see that I'm doing well,' he says. 'And the people that do message me from my school, they always support me and say, 'Well done'. 'It's just nice that people that you spent all your early stages of your life with are still watching and supporting.' Fentiman has already had four rides this week and was winning Thursday's Britannia Stakes with around a furlong to go before fading badly and finishing 11th. Admitting he has been pinching himself just being at Royal Ascot, he says: 'When you're just about to go in the stalls, you're looking at the stands and there's just thousands and thousands of people. It just gives you a good thrill.' Bred by Queen Elizabeth II, Purple Rainbow is a 20-1 shot to deliver what could be the King's first win of this year's Royal Ascot. 'Everyone wants to win because it's Royal Ascot,' Fentiman says. 'But I'd say he's got a very nice chance. He's got a low weight, with my claim off. Hopefully, if everything goes well, he should go close. 'It would be amazing if I won for Your Majesty. I don't know what would happen. I think my mum would cry.' They call it 'doing it the hard way', making all the running, but Trawlerman – John and Thady Gosden's 'old boy' – knows no different and ran out a seven-length winner of the Gold Cup in a track-record time. Wearing his heart on his sleeve, the Godolphin-owned gelding ensured there was no hiding place for any stamina-lite rivals. Aged seven, the chances are that Trawlerman is not going to become a multiple winner of the world's most prestigious staying race like Yeats, Stradivarius or even Kyprios, popular winners of the race in the recent past. But there is something about a heroic front-runner like Crisp, Desert Orchid, Persian Punch, Double Trigger – horses who were all venerated by the racing public. William Buick went out to ride Trawlerman knowing he had a number of things in his favour; he knew the gelding gets the trip, that his two principal rivals here had never tried it, that he acts on fast ground and that, maybe not that it would have mattered, this time there was no Kyprios playing the role of heartbreaker. Buick's job was also made easier, he admitted, because the horse does it himself and he only had to start pushing when he could see Illinois's shadow start to loom, just to make sure the Ballydoyle runner would never get the chance to come up for oxygen. TRAWLERMAN WINS THE GOLD CUP 🏆🔵 @godolphin | @WilliamBuickX — ITV Racing (@itvracing) June 19, 2025 In different circumstances, Illinois might have got home but, thus put to the sword, he was in the red on the stamina dial going into the final furlong while Trawlerman just galloped on in his relentless style all the way through the line. It has been an extraordinary week for the Gosdens, winning the feature race each of the first three days as well as two others, but this might just have capped it. 'Trawlerman just goes off,' said the trainer, winning the Gold Cup for the fifth time. 'I said to William 'what did you do?' and he said, 'I threw the reins at him, he can judge pace better than me', and off they went together and picked it up from five out. He is an out-and-out galloper and William judged it perfectly – it is not an easy thing to do over 2½ miles. 'On the basis he stays, if anyone is going to go by him, they will know they have been in a race, but they never got to him because he simply outstayed them.' He added: 'He ran Kyprios to a length last year and they were both all out. He deserved, with Kyprios not here, to come back and show that he is a proper horse. We like the Cup races and those lovely staying horses. I remember the great horses – Lester Piggott rode Sagaro and he could turn the last six furlongs in 1min 12sec flat. That is what I like, a horse that can go the distance and then go, and you can't catch them. That is style.' Even Sagaro might have struggled to go Trawlerman's lick, though. He knocked an impressive 1.9 seconds off the previous track record, set 15 years ago. Record times usually require two things; fast ground and a pacemaker, but Trawlerman did it without any help; that really is the hard way. 'We tried the same tactics last year,' said Buick, 'and we were only beaten by the great Kyprios. He has been such a good horse and is so genuine. He had a beautiful prep and was just so smooth throughout the race today; he's really what you want in a 2½-mile race. I did not have to touch the brakes once. He was on autopilot; he knows his own speed and stays well, so I was just a passenger. 'Winning the Gold Cup is right at the top. It is 2½ miles, an extreme distance, at Royal Ascot. It is a race that, when you get into the last half mile, that is where you separate the horses that stay and don't stay. That is when Trawlerman comes into his own.' Aidan O'Brien might have had to settle for second in the Gold Cup, but he still managed three winners with Charles Darwin in the Norfolk, Garden Of Eden in the Ribblesdale and Trinity College in the Hampton Court, so it was left to the Highclere-owned William Haggas-trained Merchant to get the winning feeling out beyond the coterie of big owners who have been dominating this week. Merchant is owned by 15 members of Highclere's Barn Owl syndicate. 'When we bought him my phone was ringing and ringing, and I thought, 'Aargh, who's that?'' explained Harry Herbert, who has been running Highclere for more than three decades. 'It was William who said, 'I have just seen you've bought that horse. I have never asked before in 33 years, please can I train him?' And here we are, at Royal Ascot – it's very special.'
