This Royal Family Member Just Revealed What Really Happens at Royal Ascot

Royal Ascot isn’t Royal Ascot without the “royal” part—that is, the presence of royalty in the Royal Enclosure and the iconic royal procession of carriages arriving at the famed race course. Queen Elizabeth II, as a passionate horsewoman, attended almost every year, and King Charles III has taken up the reins as he attends the annual Royal Ascot races as often as he can.

The British do pomp and ceremony better than anyone else, and Royal Ascot is a great example of that. “That is the history we are trying to continue,” Mike Tindall, former rugby player and husband to King Charles’s niece, Zara Tindall, said on The Luxury Dispatch. “That royal procession down the course, it's still a standalone feature of what happens at Royal Ascot.”

Mike Tindall has sat in the royal carriage procession next to his wife, a well respected and former Olympic equestrian, many times, and revealed a behind-the-scenes glimpse at the events of the day. “You jump in cars, the fleet of cars that they use are old, historical, good old fashioned state cars and they take you to the edge of [Windsor] Great Park.”

From Windsor Great Park, the royals climb into historic wicker landau carriages that process through Windsor and onto the race course. “It’s about a 20 minute carriage ride from start to finish,” Tindall said, sharing the overwhelming experience of the entire procession. “The horses, the green coats, when you set off you go past schools, it seems to be a load of schools, and they always let the children out and wave the British flags, and I’m thinking that’s great.”

With Royal Ascot running in mid-June, there is a risk of the weather being too good. “If it’s too hot, it’s a bit of a nightmare,” Tindall admitted. Royal Ascot’s Royal Enclosure dress code requires full tails and a top hat for men, which can be oppressive if the temperatures are sweltering. “If you take the hat off, a pool of water drops out” Mike Tindall joked, referring to pools of sweat on a sweltering day.

The iconic image of the carriages processing through the Royal Ascot racecourse are a British classic. “You turn on to the track down the middle of the course, and when you turn into the stadium,” Tindall reflected on previous years at Royal Ascot. In carriages carrying the King and Queen and other senior members of the Royal Family, it’s hard to miss the significance of this carriage procession. “The anthem starts, and it’s quite special.”