Royal Ascot: Princess Beatrice’s horse appears to spook

King Charles and Queen Camilla have arrived at Royal Ascot for the first day of the renowned horse racing festival, which this year runs from June 20 until 24. The Royal Family are a well-recognised and popular presence at the races, with many big horse racing fans in the family, including Camilla, who is now co-owner of the horses in the royal stables alongside her husband the King. At the first Royal Ascot since the death of Queen Elizabeth the big screen at the festival played an old video of her appearances in a moving nod to the late monarch, who was a devoted follower of the sport.

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Although he is not as passionate a follower of horse racing as his late mother Queen Elizabeth, for whom Royal Ascot was a highlight of the year, Charles is said to be “trying to really learn about the whole industry”.

Ahead of their appearance the King and Queen shared a message to racegoers where they paid tribute to Queen Elizabeth, acknowledging the “central role” she played in proceedings.

Princess Anne and Princess Alexandra have also been spotted on the first day of the festival.

Charles and Camilla attended Royal Ascot on behalf of the late Queen last year, who was unable to be at the races in person due to her ill health.

They were joined by Prince Edward and Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, Princess Anne, Zara and Mike Tindall and Princess Beatrice and her husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi.

For the first time since 2019 the monarch is expected to be at every day of the festival, which will host 35 races over the next five days.

Over the course of her lifetime Queen Elizabeth amassed around £10million in prize money through her race horses, according to Paddy Power.

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At the time of her death last year the late Queen owned about 100 horses, a third of which were inherited by King Charles who has already begun selling them off.

Speaking on behalf of Slingo, King Charles’s former butler Grant Harrold said of the event: “The whole week is a really busy week for the royals.

“King Charles and Queen Camilla always went to Windsor for that week to be very much part of it. Queen Camilla is more of a lover when it comes to horse racing, but Charles will still be there, have a flutter and be involved in it.

“Maybe Charles took a back step when it comes to horse racing because he knew it was more of his mother’s thing.

‌”Maybe now he’ll take more of an active role as the King, and maybe he’ll want to fill his mother’s role.‌

“He’s always enjoyed it and went to it. In the past, I remember if Camilla got any winners we used to hear about it.”

Daily Express Digital Royal Editor is at the opening day of Royal Ascot and she says the crowd cheered when a tribute to the late Queen Elizabeth II was played on the screens.

King Charles and Queen Camilla soon followed in a horse drawn carriage down the racecourse. As they approached the Queen Anne enclosure a military band started playing God Save the King, prompting loud cheers and whoops from the crowd.

As they passed the Royal Enclosure someone started a noisy hip hip hooray.

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