Camilla joins racegoers at Cheltenham Festival for ‘Style Wednesday'
The Queen joined spectators at the Cheltenham Festival for a day of racing at the premier meet in the country for jump jockeys.
Snow had greeted early risers at the famous racecourse but Camilla arrived in sunshine as punters poured through the gates ahead of the first race.
Camilla walked past racegoers, who captured the moment on their camera phones, as she was escorted by Sybil Ruscoe, deputy lieutenant for Gloucestershire, to the Princess Royal stand.
The festival is a huge event in the area with bars, hotels and pubs filled in nearby Cheltenham, and alongside a normal trolley service one train, from Paddington to the town's main station, had another trolley selling just cans of beer.
The Queen is due to present the winning trophies in the feature race the Queen Mother Champion Chase, being held on the second day of the festival dubbed 'Style Wednesday' when punters are encouraged to up the fashion stakes.
The race is the most prestigious event for two-mile chasers in the jump racing calendar and is expected to attract a huge amount in bets.
Among those joining Camilla in the royal box were festival stalwarts Zara and Mike Tindall and Princess Eugenie and her husband Jack Brooksbank.
Camilla has a keen interest in the equestrian world, regularly attending major racing meets such as Royal Ascot and the Cheltenham Festival and is associated with a number of equine charities including The British Equestrian Federation and the Ebony Horse Club.
She was recently announced as the royal patron of the British Racing School which trains the next generation in the horse racing industry.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
'Largest Princess Diana auction' features frocks, hats and bags
NEWBRIDGE, Ireland (Reuters) - From colourful frocks and hats to handbags and shoes, items belonging to the late Princess Diana go under the hammer this month in what Julien's Auctions says is the largest collection of her fashion to go to auction. The live and online "Princess Diana's Style & A Royal Collection" sale will take place on June 26 at The Peninsula Beverly Hills, offering an array of fashion items Diana wore. "This is the largest Princess Diana auction because we have over 100 items from her amazing life and in mind Diana over 70 of her in 1997 to raise money for her charity," Martin Nolan, executive director and co-founder of Julien's Auctions, told Reuters on Monday. He was speaking at the Museum of Style Icons in Newbridge in Ireland during a pre-sale exhibition. Among the highlights is a 1988 silk floral dress by Bellville Sassoon, dubbed the "caring dress" because Diana wore it several times on hospital visits, with a price estimate of $200,000-$300,000. A cream silk embroidered evening gown Catherine Walker designed for Diana's 1986 Gulf tour has a similar price tag, while a Bruce Oldfield two-piece yellow floral ensemble she wore for Royal Ascot in 1987 is estimated at $100,000-$200,000. Other sale items include a Dior handbag gifted to her by former French first lady Bernadette Chirac in 1995, a sketch of Diana's 1981 wedding dress with tulle fabric cut-offs from when she married then Prince Charles in 1981 and a peach hat she wore for her honeymoon send-off. The auction also includes pieces belonging to other British royals including the late Queen Elizabeth II and the queen mother. Nolan said Julien's Auctions had previously sold a dress belonging to Diana for $1.14 million. "People do consider these items as an asset class now, because if people own these items today, chances are in years to come they will sell them for more than what they pay for (at) auction," he said. Part of the proceeds from the sale of Diana's items will go to charity Muscular Dystrophy UK. The pre-sale exhibition in Newbridge will run until June 17.
Yahoo
15 hours ago
- Yahoo
I asked the Queen to help save horse racing
Inevitably the Queen's presence at the big meetings intensifies focus on her passion for horse racing. The fact that she is present becomes the story. The Derby, for instance, felt a little bit flat without Her Majesty or the King in attendance. But they will both be the stars of the show next week at Royal Ascot – even if Lady Posh and Sir Becks turn up. But behind those welcome hours of support that Her Majesty gives a sport that is facing desperate headwinds right now, there is a deeply knowledgeable horsewoman who listens to those working at the coalface. And there could have been no more suitable backdrop for her attention to the grassroots of the sport last week than Hexham, where Queen Camilla dropped in to talk to the team that care for arguably the most beautiful racecourse in England. The sun shone and the rain made an appearance just when it was not needed, but it was not hard to see the tangible pleasure that just a few seconds with her gave them. I joined local trainers Nick Alexander, Michael Dods and Rebecca Menzies, who all punch above their weight, to articulate to her the issues that confront racing. They are workers, not whingers, but we did not pull any punches when outlining the problems the sport faces. Top of the bill were this government's refusal to engage with horse racing and the outrageous possibility it should treat the sport, as far as betting tax is concerned, the same as addictive online casino games. Falling betting turnover, which funds the sport, the rise of black-market betting and the wider issue of prize money in the UK – which is becoming increasingly uncompetitive compared to other countries – were also touched upon. So quite a lot to cram into a frenetic chat before we dug a couple of tips out of her. The Queen is way too smart to be drawn into political conversations, but she listened assiduously. She preferred, however, to talk about the King's genuine fondness of the sport. Something that he probably kept under wraps when he was younger so as not to rain on his late mother's parade, while she was the monarch. But do not forget that he put his neck on the line riding in hunter chases on a tricky customer called Good Prospect (who was anything but) in the early 1980s. The unwarranted kicking the then Prince Charles got from a gleeful press after he was unseated twice from that brute probably hurt more than the falls. Meanwhile, the then Camilla Shand was having a better experience at the Southdowns point-to-point, learning a true love of the sport – possibly from the safety of the beer tent if the weather was anything like her day at Hexham. Long after the Queen's departure, gratitude for her support was mixed with real anger at the predicament facing racing and the tens of thousands of jobs that rely on it. And the similarities with the bleak future of farmers are very obvious to the Hexham stalwarts. Both industries are viewed with the same cultural disdain by this government. The unpredictability of what they are going to be beaten with next has become Trump-like. The British Horseracing Authority (BHA) was understandably not on a war footing to push back against the Government's consultations to raise betting tax on horse racing. Only last week it was in a rush to appoint a PR company to help get its message across, which some would say is six months too late. But the BHA can be forgiven for assuming that Baroness Twycross, the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) minister, would understand the difference between casino games on smartphones and betting on racing. The former is highly addictive and mindless, the latter has been around for hundreds of years and provides a lot of jobs and a fair chunk of change to the Treasury. If Baroness Twycross really does not get that, she should talk to Dan Carden, the Labour MP who chairs the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Racing and Bloodstock. He recognises that racing gives this country 'a unique diplomatic edge'. A point that we also made to the Queen last week. She was too polite to reply that she was well aware of that! He is also on record as saying that 'ministers need to listen to racing' because 'recent government interventions have hindered, not helped'. Of course the monarchy can never be seen to be meddling in politics, although there was a suspicion that our late Queen Elizabeth II might have 'had a word' with the odd prime minister from time to time to advance racing's cause. One can only hope that Queen Camilla might be able to remind Sir Keir Starmer of the importance of horse racing to rural employment and the soft power of UK plc, should the PM cop an invitation to a barbecue at Balmoral this summer. Join Charlie Brooks in the comments from 10am to 11am on Monday morning Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Yahoo
Where Queen Camilla Stands on King Charles and Prince Harry's Rift
Prince Harry is embroiled in a yearslong feud with both his father King Charles and his brother Prince William. How does Queen Camilla feel about it all? Well, she's intentionally staying out of it, a source said. There is a complicated dynamic between Camilla and Harry anyway, going all the way back to when Camilla was Charles' mistress during his marriage to Harry's mother Princess the father-son rift between King Charles and Prince Harry rages on—escalated, perhaps, even further by Harry's emotional BBC interview last month where he said, in part, that he didn't know how much longer his father had to live—how does Queen Camilla feel about it all? It seems, according to reporting from People, that Camilla is keeping her distance from the feud, as well as that of Harry and brother Prince William. She simply 'stays out of it,' a source told the outlet for its new cover story this week. Camilla—who was long the mistress of Charles during the King's marriage to Harry's mother, Princess Diana—was described as 'dangerous' by the Duke of Sussex in his 2023 memoir Spare. Harry also alleged that Camilla leaked stories about him to the press in an effort to rehabilitate her image following years of bad press as the other woman. Of Charles and Camilla's 2005 wedding—eight years after the death of Diana in a 1997 car accident—Harry wrote he 'had complicated feelings about gaining a stepparent, who I thought had recently sacrificed me on her personal PR altar.' Harry elaborated in a 2023 interview with Good Morning America, where he said that Camilla 'had a reputation or an image to rehabilitate, and whatever conversations happened, whatever deals or trading was made right at the beginning, she was led to believe that that would be the best way to doing it.' As for their relationship now, Harry said at the time, 'We haven't spoken for a long time.' 'She's my stepmother,' he continued. 'I don't look at her as an evil stepmother. I see someone who married into this institution, and done everything she can to improve her own reputation and her own image, for her own sake.' Royal biographer Christopher Wilson told People that Harry 'was justified in his complaint that he and William were used in the early days to legitimize the partnership' of Charles and Camilla. Of the Queen, 'Over time, she's learned to roll with the punches,' he added. 'Harry's feelings have been well-known to her over many years. Her reaction to Harry's comments would be limited to a sad shake of the head.' Of Camilla becoming Queen upon his father's coronation in May 2023, royal biographer and editor-in-chief of Majesty Magazine Ingrid Seward said, 'William is quite calm about it. But it will stick in Harry's throat a bit.' As for the ongoing feud between Harry and his father and brother, 'the underlying issue is trust,' royal biographer Sally Bedell Smith told People. 'The King and William don't trust Harry and Meghan [Markle] with any kind of confidential conversation.' Harry's recent BBC interview, royal biographer Valentine Low added, 'wasn't meant to be an attack, but it would be seen as one. It makes Charles reaching out even harder.' Read the original article on InStyle