Royal Ascot Day 3 (Thursday) brought out the core royals: King Charles, Queen Camilla, the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh (Edward & Sophie), Princess Anne, Zara Tindall and… Carole Middleton. Truly, Carole is the next best thing to the Queen Mum – she is the mother of the future queen consort and grandmother to a future king. Plus, the Queen Mum was always gin-pickled too. Interestingly, Carole heard all of our comments about her missing husband, so Michael Middleton was dutifully trotted out for Day 3. He was barely photographed, almost as if he only came out to keep up appearances and then left quickly. I do think it’s interesting that Carole was welcomed two days in a row as well – her daughter wasn’t there, and yet Carole was still rubbing shoulders with Sophie Who and Zara in the royal box. I have to hand it to her, Carole negotiated a great deal for herself in 2024.
I didn’t get a chance to talk about Duchess Sophie at Ascot earlier because there was so much going on, but Sophie bizarrely wore two very dark, funereal looks to Ascot. While the cut and length of these dresses adhere to Ascot’s dress code, she broke the unwritten rule of Ascot style: “don’t look like a goth witch.” Her black dress on Day 2 and her navy dress from Day 3 were both from Suzannah London. Both are just terrible dresses overall as well. Sophie gets it wrong like 90% of the time.
Meanwhile, Day 3 was the first time Zara Tindall and Mike Tindall were invited to ride in the carriage procession. The Tindalls have been there every day, so this was a special treat, I guess. Zara wore another puffy-sleeved Rebecca Vallance bridesmaid’s dress for some reason.
One more fashion note – Camilla wore a custom Fiona Clare, paired with a Dior purse. She also wore diamond earrings (likely from the Royal Collection), a Cartier bracelet and the Courtauld Thomson Scallop-Shell Brooch. Also: Andrew Parker Bowles was there too.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images, Getty Images.
