Here are some photos from Royal Ascot Day 2, which is today. King Charles and Queen Camilla arrived in the first carriage, and Prince William rode with them. Originally, William and Kate were supposed to be in the second carriage, but everything was quickly rearranged given the Princess of Wales’s sudden withdrawal from her planned appearance. Kate’s absence seems like a bigger story than if she had just turned up as expected. Kensington Palace briefed the media that Kate is “disappointed” to pull out, but she’s trying to find the balance with her health. Sure.
Meanwhile, there are lots of theories about what’s really happening here, behind the scenes. Was this even Kate’s call? She clearly intended to go to Ascot today, and we know that because Kate’s tacky mother went to Ascot today. Last year, Carole and Michael Middleton turned up at Ascot as well, it was their big comeback since their business collapsed under millions in debt. Kate didn’t go to Ascot last year, but Carole was notably welcomed back, and she even got photo-ops with Prince William and some of the other royals in attendance. She was also photographed chugging wine last year. Will there be a repeat of any of that this year? We’ll see. But I wonder if Carole originally planned on going to Ascot today specifically because she believed Kate would be there.
Also: I actually like that shade of green on Camilla. She should wear rich jewel tones more often. Her emerald brooch is insane as well. And Charles looks TERRIBLE.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Getty.
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- Ascot, UNITED KINGDOM – Members Of The Royal Family attend day two of Royal Ascot at Ascot Racecourse in Ascot, England. Pictured: King Charles III, Queen Camilla BACKGRID USA 18 JUNE 2025 BYLINE MUST READ: Zak Hussein / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Ascot, UNITED KINGDOM – Members Of The Royal Family attend day two of Royal Ascot at Ascot Racecourse in Ascot, England. Pictured: Queen Camilla BACKGRID USA 18 JUNE 2025 BYLINE MUST READ: Zak Hussein / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Ascot, UNITED KINGDOM – Members Of The Royal Family attend day two of Royal Ascot at Ascot Racecourse in Ascot, England. Pictured: William, Prince of Wales BACKGRID USA 18 JUNE 2025 BYLINE MUST READ: Zak Hussein / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
Mistress queen is happy.
And Carole showed up as a lace doily. And I can think of another person who once looked striking in emerald green with a lovely cape. Anyways, I’m fascinated that William just joined the carriage with his dad. LOL. Making nice with the man he sometimes has a weekly phone call with and his stepmom. Fun times.
Even C’s earrings are similar to the pair M wore with her green cape dress.
But that brooch! Wowzers! And the pendant is completely lost against the green background of her dress. Why wear emeralds with this???
Charles is wearing a rather nice brooch as well, or is it called something else for men? ‘Lapel pin’, maybe? He’s actually wearing two, side by side.
I’m wondering if Kate got bumped for the Saudi Prince. Maybe he showed up with a Harrods’ bag full of cash.
The Saudi prince was always scheduled to be in the carriage with Charles and Camilla. William bumped off some other lord who was supposed to be there.
The original first carriage ride was supposed to be the king and queen, the Saudi prince and the Rt. Hon. the Lord Soames of Fletching. I’m thinking William replaced the Lord Soames.
It was originally announced that Kate and William would be in the second carriage with Mr. and Mrs. Justin Rose. Maybe their last name ticked Kate off, lol.
So possibly Soames was then put in the second carriage with the Rose couple and they ended up only having 3 people. Although then there would be no royal in the carriage? How does that work? Were all three of them bumped or did they just ride without a royal?
Nope. Came back to say that poor Lord Soames of Fletching was fully bumped. The second carriage became the Gloucesters and the Halifax’s who were originally supposed to be in the third carriage. Apparently there cannot be only 3 people in a carriage. So the 3rd carriage became the Roses, originally to be in the second carriage with Will and Kate, now with the Boyds couple to make a carriage of four. Sorry, I’m just laughing. Poor Lord Soames of Fletching. He must be cursing Kate somewhere. And the Boyds couple is blessing her name for the unexpected windfall of making it to the third carriage. The fourth carriage remained the same with the chattos and the Harris couple so they managed to remain unscathed.
@jais: such drama over carriage seating! Sounds like another episode of Midsomer Murder!
Pippa wandered off the set of Little House on the Prairie.
Who’s the fat dude next to Will in the carriage?
Bright green is flattering on Cam.
I don’t think that is Pippa – I think that’s James’ wife.
That’s Alize, not Pippa. The man in the carriage is a Saudi Prince.
I cannot believe the outfits on both Carole & Alizee! They’re just ridiculous! Then again, glimpsing the women in the background, I’m seeing the standard English flower print dress of indeterminate length and indeterminate shape paired with the standard stupid little hat. What kind of weird madness takes over for these royal events????
I wonder if Carole stole her daughter’s dress, hence “disappointed.” That being said, Alizee looks like a tablecloth with that gingham outfit.
This could be the start of another round of “Where is the missing Princess?”
I hope not. It becomes ridiculous when the mystery of the missing princess is more interesting than the person in question. And then theories just start going wild.
@jais, agreed, version 1 of “missing princess” wasn’t all that great, I’m not sure it has the legs for a sequel. Or to quote dear Mr. Twain, “the burnt prophet shuns the fire”. Or Dubya – “[mumble mumble] won’t get fooled again”.
I don’t think she’s missing. They gave her seat to someone more important to Charles.
Nope, they actually had to bump poor Lord Soames of Fletching bc Kate’s absence caused some last minute musical carriages. This is what makes me think that BP, Charles and Camila had not planned for this. Spare a thought for the indignity done to poor Lord Soames who was esteemed enough to have been originally put in the first carriage with the king and queen. But alas he could not compare to the Saudi prince and was thus ousted.
I rather hope it does & for that very reason. Kate’s more interesting when she’s missing.
As for poor Lord Soames–he’s a grandson of Churchill, so I think he’ll be OK. 😉
Beaniebean, lol, I hadn’t even googled him yet but had figured he was obviously some kind of a someone. So yeah he’ll be fine. I’m still laughing though. How dare Kate cause Churchill’s grandson, poor lord soames, to be ousted!
I don’t care for lord Soames he called Diana patanoid.
Lord Soames is not ok he is one of the people who gaslit Diana and said she was paranoid when she was still alive. He may be Churchill grandchild but he is not a good human being the way he gaslit Diana.
thank you for that additional info Tessa. I was being facetious in calling him poor lord soames of fletching and will prob continue to do so bc it’s making me laugh that his seat was usurped. But now I will remember that not only was he Churchill’s grandson but that he once called Diana paranoid. Clear to see why Charles and Camilla were happy to have him in the first carriage.
Carole is multiple sizes larger than Kate, so I doubt it.
There’s no way Carole would fit any of her daughter’s dresses.
Shouldn’t Ma Middleton be home helping her daughter find balance after sickness? Guess being seen at Ascot is more important than helping her struggling daughter.
Carole likely only found out Kate wasn’t attending when the rota was told.
It is just not plausible that if Kate wasn’t feeling well this morning she wouldn’t have told her mother and have this news out hours before the Ascot notice was sent to the media.
The border on the badges mean the type of access a person has and Alizee and Carole have a pink border. Does anyone know what that permits?
I know I was joking. Cause remember when Can’t was “missing” Carol was supposedly right by her side.
Last year on this site, someone did a great breakdown of the colors of the badges, and I thinks shapes matter, too.
There is a site, Hound & Horse, I can’t access which seems like it would have the best breakdown.
This is what I got from Google AI:
Purple Badge: This color indicates that the wearer has access to the Royal Box, an exclusive seating area reserved for select members of the Royal Family and their guests.
Green Badge: Worn by some royals like Princess Anne, Prince Edward, and Sophie, Countess of Wessex, the green badge signals their admission to the exclusive Royal Box.
Other Colors/Royal Enclosure: Badges can also feature color combinations like purple and white, representing royalty, or red, blue, and white for Britain. These badges, particularly those designating access to the Royal Enclosure, may indicate different access levels within the event. For instance, some badges in the Royal Enclosure might specify access to the “Royal Box” while others may simply state “Royal Enclosure”.
The color denotes the day of the week you are going (so you can’t get in multiple days with the same badge), and the shape denotes where you can go with your badge. The oval is the Royal Box. I’m not sure which area the triangle is for. Alizee has both, and Carole just has the Royal box. Maybe James and Alizee have friends in another area but not the Box, so they’ll go back and forth.
So Carole’s badge is that of the Royal Box? Okay, so then I think we can assume that Carole thought she would see her daughter there today. It was last year at one of royal ascot events that we saw Carole for the first time since the infamous fuzzy car photo that Kp denied. Interesting. Guess we’ll have to wait and see if we get photos of William and Carole chatting it up again.
I wonder if there will be any photos of Carole near William as there was last year.
I’m wondering the same. Bc if she’s in the royal box and he makes a point of not being photographed with her….well, yikes.
Lol, like Trooping, the most interesting thing about this event is who wasn’t there.
Maybe that’s the reason Kate wasn’t there. She put out there that she would there and once she didn’t arrive it peaks interest for when she finally does. She didn’t like the attention she got from Trooping and went in hiding again to get more sympathy. There’s no reason her health should be a concern since she’s already taken time away, supposedly had chemo and was declared in remission. So unless she’s no longer in remission, her health should be fine. Besides even when she was supposedly going through chemo, she was doing all of the things that are highly recommended patients avoid like large crowds (especially without a mask) and excessive sun exposure like at Trooping and Wimbledon.
Who knows, maybe she fell down the stairs or something. I just think it’s funny that the chatter around Trooping was how H&M didn’t attend (yet again) and now, how Kate suddenly dropped out. Absence overshadows presence.
Down the stairs pushed by someone?
That’s true although Kate’s behavior towards William and especially George was also very noticeable.
She made a scary face at louis when they were on the balcony.
Wonder if Kate cosplaying Diana at Trooping annoyed Camilla.
Or if Kate was benched by Willy for some reason.
Even Camilla would admit keen is no diana. And I mean this as not complimentary to Kate
Free booze, of course tacky Carole would go with or without her poor sausage of a daughter
Maybe Kate didn’t go because her mom didn’t get the right badge, fight ensues up until today (with her fighting to get her mom a better badge), and then not going when she finds out her mom won’t get the right badge.
Sounds likely.
What a lot they are.
Carole’s dress is soo tacky. Yikes.
If I were Kate, I wouldn’t miss Ascot for anything. It actually worries me that this is some constraint by William. She’s a lazy mean girl, but even lazy mean girls don’t need to be abused especially when they have children together.
Look how the wails treated the Sussex children. No sympathy for the wails
Am I the only one who see’s yellow not green? Also Carole is a trashy grifter.
Camilla wore green so I think something was mixed up in the editing.
I could see Kate wearing a dress just like her mother’s. She really has her mother’s fashion sense and Alize Middleton looks dowdy.
I think Carole styles Kate quite a bit.
The article in the Fail made it sound like Ma was already going – she’s been turning up a Keen’s plus 1 to a lot of events of the past few years, me thinks she pushed herself into some sort of ‘mother in waiting’ role now that Keen is close to the throne.
TBF Carole is consistently the best dressed Middleton woman.
All I’ve got is that they must be roasting in those outfits, particularly the men. It is HOT in this part ok the UK today.
Can anyone go to Ascot? That is if they can afford it? Where is Michael? Why is Ma Middleton there and not Kate? There were no texts between Kate and Ma? Why did Kate “pull out?” I have so many questions. Will we ever learn the particulars about Peg and Kate’s marriage?
@BEECH
Or maybe Carole and Pippa’s presence has nothing to do with the Royals, they just bought tickets, which is possible with enough advance notice. After all, Pippa’s husband has some contacts. Maybe they knew that Will didn’t want Kate there and their presence was to spite him. As for Michael, it seems their marriage is similar to WK. Michael hasn’t been living with Carole for a long time, but with another woman. They show up together from time to time to maintain the illu
What is it with the Middleton women and hideous lace frocks? Not an ounce of style between them.
But my question is: where is Rose? Are Rose and her husband not present at the most important event of the year? Or is it simply forbidden to publish Rose’s photos?
Just when you think you’ve seen the most horrific dress…you see several more. Is style been abandoned in the BRF?
Carole in lace with hideous hat. This is what she dreamed of being around royals