The Duke of Kent, Earl and Countess of St. Andrews also attended the races today. The Duke of Kent repeated his grey felt top hat and Princess Alexandra repeated her pale pink straw picture hat by Rachel Trevor Morgan with silk twists and masses of mini feathers. Sylvanna looks to have repeated the pale grey straw hat with pleated white crin overlay and pink trim she recently wore to Lady Gabriella Windsor’s wedding. I’ve not been able to locate any photos of George but he would have worn a top hat.
The only other royal guest at the races today was Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, in his black silk antique top hat (Princess Haya and the couple’s children did not attend)
The first day of Royal Ascot also saw a few hatted noble heads:
Lady Carolyn Warren (daughter of the late Earl of Carnarvon, Queen Elizabeth’s former racing manager and wife of John Warren, the current one) in a monochrome blush pink straw disc hat with windowpane lattice brim, trimmed with straw twists, silk flowers and a windowpane lattice crin ruffle
Lady Kitty Spencer in a white Philip Treacy percher with deep crease, trimmed with a black quill
Lady Laura Cathcart in a pink vertical straw saucer with black bow and ostrich feathers of her own design
Joining today’s carriage procession were Master of the Horse Lord de Lauley (shown below with the Earl of Wessex), the Queen’s Private Secretary, Edward Young and Master of the Royal Household, Vice Admiral Tony Johnstone-Burt, all in black top hats.
The following additional hats caught the attention of our guest milliner, Jay Cheng:
Very interesting Victorian look
Lady Kitty Spencer’s eccentric beret by Philip Treacy
Blue and gold hat with very unusual back view
Flora Johnson in something different- a beach hat by Lock & Co.
Rosie Tapner’s whimsical pink crin hat by Stephen Jones
And finally- all non-royal hats that caught my eye at the races today:
Jodie Kidd in a stack of colourful straw hats. Bonkers but such fun!
Nazer Bullen in a sidesweeping hat covered in pink ostrich feathers by William Chambers
Julia Lundin in a tall black straw brimless stovepipe with patent leather hatband
Valerie Stark in a white Philip Treacy percher with black crin veil
Milliner Lisa Tan in a purple triple brimmed hat of her own design
Yellow crin hat with burgundy flowers on an unidentified racegoer (see the back here)
Black cutwork disc hat with white bow by Australian milliner Danica Errard
Milliner Rachel Ellis Oates in a self made white straw halo bandeau with floral trim (see the back here)
Hatshop owner Lizzie Hughes in a deep green percher with lush trailing vine by Guibert Millinery
Unnamed racegoer in a bright pink saucer percher with roses
Bumble bee hat on an unidentified racegoer
Irish milliner Jennifer Wrynne in a classic black and white bergere boater of her own design
My sincere thanks to milliner Jay Cheng for joining us today to chat about all the royal hats at the first day of the races. Jay- it has been a long but very enjoyable day sharing all of these hats with you. THANK YOU!
Photos from Gettyand social media as indicated; Shutterstock, Robin Utrecht and Shutterstock via Shutterstock
Royal Hats 
Here’s a fun view of Jay preparing yesterday’s commentary, in a fantastic hat!
Thanks Jay for your excellent commentary, and thank you for this terrific photo! It’s fun for us to see a milliner’s “war room.”
Wish we could see that fabulous hat at Ascot! Thanks for your fascinating commentary, Jay!
Sylvanna wore her hat to the wedding, not Trooping the Colour.
My goodness- of course. There are too many hats in my brain right now. Correction made.
A big round of applause and many thanks to HatQueen and Jay Cheng for providing us with such outstanding commentary and photos of Day 1! On to Day 2!
Hear, hear!!!
So kind. Thanks!
Isn’t Lady Kitty’s percher the one Max wore for UK state visit? https://royalhats.net/2018/10/24/dutch-monarchs-conclude-uk-state-visit/
Different colour and much longer quill but yes.
Yesss! I thought it was the same. Love it in both guises on Lady Kitty and Queen Max.
Another hat that caught my eye- Ginnie Chadwyck-Healey in this green straw beret with ostrich feathers by Nicola de Selincourt
Many thanks to Jay Cheng for your commentary on Day 1! Definitely some good looks today by other guests. Here’s one photo of a top hat I really liked:
Embed from Getty Images
That gentleman looks so suave!
Lady Carolyn Warren’s look is a standout. I love the pleated color blocked skirt paired with the really fabulous hat.
I do miss princess Haya, she always wears nice hats
Ascot is like the Olympics of hats
I am so happy to have found your blog! I absolutely adore hats and wish they were a must have fashion accessory in the U.S. I am anxiously awaiting each new post from Royal Ascot! I loved seeing so many of the Royals in blue, my favorite color! 💙💙💙 Fy, some of the links Jay posted don’t seem taren’t working.
Welcome Lynn- brace yourself for this week! It’s a hat marathon (not a sprint!). Links are now fixed.
That’s a great hat! I also like her male companion’s hat – chic update on a classic look!
Very sad my fave Princess Haya did not attend!!
HQ, you have done a mammoth job and it’s only Day 1- I hope you have been able to cut back your other duties this week to free up some time! Many thanks to Jay Cheng for sharing her thoughts here at RoyalHats..
Lady Carolyn Warren’s outfit looks identical to the one she wore on Day 5 Ascot 2017, including the hat – only the shoes and the earrings appear to have been changed. It’s interesting that the skirt length now looks oddly short by current standards.
I love the 3rd hat selected by Jay Cheng — thanks Jay — and I found some front views of it. It’s from Ascot 2018 but who cares? a great hat is a great hat.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BkNmsCcnaVL/
https://www.instagram.com/p/BkS0iKCHz1v/