The Royal Family at Ascot Over the Years

George IV

I thought about covering subsequent days this week of the Royal Family at Ascot, but then thought…nah, let’s go back in time. Honestly, so many of the shots of today’s RF on Tuesday looked like stills from a period film, that I thought it would be fun to go back and actually see everyone over the years. So, a random sampling and a touch of history below…

Before photography took off…Queen Victoria arriving in 1840, the same year she married Prince Albert:

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The Royal Family preparing to leave for Ascot in 1896. You can see the Prince and Princess of Wales (later Edward VII & Queen Alexandra) and the Duke and Duchess of York (later George V & Queen Mary):

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The royal enclosure in 1910. You see a lot of black as Edward VII had died the month before:

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Too distant to see anything, but this is George V and Queen Mary arriving at the racecourse in 1912:

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George V and Queen Mary arriving in 1927:

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Again in 1931:

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The Prince of Wales (later Edward VIII and Duke of Windsor) attending with Wallis Simpson in 1935:

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George VI and Queen Elizabeth arriving in 1938:

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George VI and Queen Elizabeth with their daughters, Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret in the late 1940s:

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Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret arriving in 1948. Elizabeth would have been pregnant with Prince Charles:

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The Queen and her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, arriving in June 1957:

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The Queen and Prince Philip with the Queen’s mother in 1955:

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An undated shot (but definitely in the 1950s) of the Queen and Princess Margaret on their way by car:

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The Queen and Queen Mother in 1960:

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The Queen leaving in 1963:

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The Queen and Philip with the Prince of Wales in 1968:

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The Queen and Queen Mother that same year:

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And the Queen Mother arriving with Princess Margaret and her then-husband, the Earl of Snowdon, and the Duke of Kent:

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The Queen Mother with the Princess Royal in the 1970s:

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The Queen and Margaret in 1975:

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The Queen and Margaret in 1979:

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Lady Diana Spencer attending in 1981 (this would have been a month before her wedding). Sitting next to her is Princess Alexandra of Kent:

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The Duchess of York arriving with Princess Michael of Kent in 1988 (Fergie would have been very pregnant with Princess Beatrice):

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The Queen Mother arriving with the Princess of Wales that same year:

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And again in 1989:

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That same year, the Princess Royal brought her daughter, Zara, to watch the races:

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Another day of the races in 1989, this time with Charles and Diana:

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At some point post-1986, here is Charles and Prince Edward. You can see Fergie a touch ahead of them in the corner:

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Princess Anne walking with the Duchess of Cornwall’s then-husband, Andrew Parker-Bowles, in the early ’90s. Her son, Peter Phillips, is behind them:

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Charles and Diana in 1990:

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Diana and Fergie in 1991:

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Here you can see Diana and arriving with Charles and Andrew. Also pictured is Margaret’s son, the Viscount Linley (now Earl of Snowdon).:

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Diana and the Queen Mother in 1992. Six months later Diana’s separation from Charles would be announced:

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The Queen and Margaret in 1996:

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The Queen Mother and Margaret in 1997:

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And finally, a jump forward to yesterday, the Queen arriving with Anne, Andrew, and Anne’s husband, Timothy Laurence:

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One thought on “The Royal Family at Ascot Over the Years

  1. Stacy

    What wonderful pictures of the royals that I have never seen! Thanks for this fresh perspective honoring the history of The Royal Family at Ascot over the years!

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