Here are some photos from Royal Ascot Day 1, aka Tuesday, June 16th. King Charles and Queen Camilla generally attend every single day of Royal Ascot, even though Charles isn’t horse-crazy like his mother. Charles is just a one-horse kind of man, if you get my drift. For Ascot Day 1, the royal procession was pretty mundane – Charles and Camilla rode in the first carriage with the Duke and Duchess of Wellington, with Princess Anne in the second carriage along with Peter Phillips and his new wife Harriet Sperling. Interestingly enough, the fourth seat in Anne’s carriage was filled by Sir Ben Elliot, aka Camilla’s nephew and a major Tory Party fundraiser. Yikes. But remember, the Windsors aren’t political!!
Anyway, this was Harriet Sperling’s first big outing since the wedding a few weeks ago. She was named in the palace’s procession list as “Mrs. Peter Phillips,” but I have no idea if she’s actually going to change her name to Harriet Phillips or not. Harriet was included in everything – she was welcomed by Zara Tindall, and Harriet spent a lot of time watching the races from the royal balcony.
I appreciate that Harriet’s style-eye is very similar to the current Princess of Wales. They like the same designers, they like buttons and polka dots, they like pleated sleeves and clothing that veers into girlishness. Weirdly, Harriet pulls off that style much more than Kate. Harriet wore Suzannah London, a baby-blue dress which looks exactly like something Kate has worn a million times. Harriet’s hat was Jane Taylor and I think the English would say “it looks like a dog’s breakfast.” Once again, Harriet’s jewels were Pragnell, just like her wedding jewelry. Is she low-key being sponsored by Pragnell?
Other style notes: Camilla pulled out the big guns, jewelry-wise: she wore the Cullinan V diamond brooch and then added another diamond brooch to her hat for good measure.
Photos courtesy of Cover Images.
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- Royals attend day one of Royal Ascot 2026 at Ascot Racecourse Featuring: Anne, Princess Royal, Harriet Sperling Where: Ascot, United Kingdom When: 16 Jun 2026 Credit: Cover Images
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- Royals attend day one of Royal Ascot 2026 at Ascot Racecourse Featuring: King Charles III, Queen Camilla Where: Ascot, United Kingdom When: 16 Jun 2026 Credit: Cover Images
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- Royals attend day one of Royal Ascot 2026 at Ascot Racecourse Featuring: Harriet Sperling and Zara Tindall Where: Ascot, United Kingdom When: 16 Jun 2026 Credit: Cover Images **NOT AVAILABLE FOR HELLO MAGAZINE**
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- Royals attend day one of Royal Ascot 2026 at Ascot Racecourse Featuring: King Charles III and Queen Camilla Where: Ascot, United Kingdom When: 16 Jun 2026 Credit: Cover Images **NOT AVAILABLE FOR HELLO MAGAZINE**
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- Royals attend day one of Royal Ascot 2026 at Ascot Racecourse Featuring: Peter Phillips, Sir Ben Elliot Where: Ascot, United Kingdom When: 16 Jun 2026 Credit: Cover Images
Are they trying to make the Phillips happen. And trot them out more.
God, the teeth on these people.
😂
The faces. The teeth. No wonder some English women think William is handsome if the have to live with guys like this.
We know handsome British men exist, but apparently not in high society. And certainly not in the Parker Bowls family.
I thought Kate’s ex boyfriend that showed up at Harriet and Peter’s wedding was quite the dish, but you’re right, he’s the exception that proves the rule
At this point, Harriet looks healthier and happier, which makes sense as she’s a newly wed. Bc yeah, her style is so Kate. Kate accused Meghan of wanting to steal her fashion contacts, despite Meghan having her own clear and distinct style, separate from Kate. Will she bring this type of energy for Harriet? Or is Harriet safe bc she’s not Black or married to Harry.
@Jais – I agree. Harriet looks significantly more healthy than Kate and it makes all the difference in the world.
As someone with family on both sides of the Atlantic, I can say that people perhaps need to look at the fashion angle from a British perspective.
Harriet is dressing the way the average (white) British woman of a certain age (not limited to a certain class) dresses. So does Kate, except that Kate gets it wrong most times by overdoing things. But even so, this is the British version of being well dressed. So it’s not that Harriet is dressing like Kate. She’s dressing like the average British woman. Think back to all those howlers at the wedding which were dutifully described as fashionable by the UK media. Look at photos of the women at Ascot or Cheltenham or Aintree. THAT is their normal. The women in the media dress the same way. To THEM, this is fashionable, elegant, stunning. And they tell themselves that everyday.
Then those writers stumble onto someone who really is effortlessly stylish and genuinely fashionable, and whose style translates on an international scale, and they take offence at every compliment which is paid to that person because that person does not, and would never, dress like they do.
Once you see it like that, then you understand why they attack M so much, and indeed, why they attack even some models for the crime of wearing totally ordinary, relatable garments (to the rest of the world) and looking phenomenal in them – and getting praised for their style from all quarters.
@Magdalena good point. I think Harriet looks nice here but compared to the other upperclass aristo women at this event – she looks about the same as most of them.
The social media algos gave me some random woman who goes to all these events and she was trying on hats and dresses and they all look like something Kate would wear, except she pulls them off better because she’s more careful with her style and her accessories (I actually think one of her dresses for Royal ascot was the Roland Mouret Sophie wore to Trooping, lol.)
Anyway for me Kate’s problem isn’t that she dresses like these women dress – its that she doesn’t have any sense of style so picks out the wrong cuts, the wrong accessories, the wrong hats, etc.
“So it’s not that Harriet is dressing like Kate. She’s dressing like the average British woman.”
But we’re always told Kate is the future queen. So, by definition, she should not be dressing like the average British woman. Too bad Kate has no stylist, no family or friends who could help her with her sartorial choices and that she doesn’t own a mirror which could show her how ridiculous she looks in her attempt to be relatable or average.
Yes, the british women, from upper-class or aristocratic backgrounds, tend to have a very distinctive style it often looks dated and stuffy. They look is a mix of country and city influences: Barbour jackets, tweed blazers, cashmere sweaters, sensible shoes, pearl earrings, and dresses coats, floral prints or riding boots and loafers.
That’s why Meghan and Wallis Simpson never really fit the mold. Their style was completely different from that crowd. British upper-class fashion often feels stuffy, conservative, and decades behind the times, while Meghan and Wallis embraced a more international and fashion-forward look. Whatever their faults, neither of them dressed like they were heading to a countryside luncheon in 1982. That’s probably one of the reasons they attracted so much attention—and criticism.
That’s also why Kate’s style doesn’t have the same impact, because coat dresses are very formal statement pieces that are not really practical for everyday life, unless you are attending a wedding, a christening, or a funeral. The royal women whose style I personally like are Meghan Queen Letizia of Spain, and Sheikha Mozah of Qatar.
so basically, British “fashion” is a lot like British food-bland, overcooked and utterly uninteresting.
It seems that the UK is supporting the world’s millinery industry. Where I live, I never see hats unless they’re baseball caps in the summer and ski hats in the winter. Even hats like Meghan wears would really stand out.
But it’s so true about different countries having different culture. Whenever I visit my family in Greece, they shake their heads at my wardrobe and make me buy all new things. And when I get back to the US, I can’t wear any of them.
With Waity’s hate of any female competition this is dangerous territory for Harriet she should be careful… Waity won’t be kind if she feels overshadowed.
Agree Kate is going to give her death ray stares and a good push if she overshadows her in anyway which is easily done!
Incoming: “Harriet bullied poor Kate” headlines. Unless Harriet is safe because she’s an English rose. Or unless the headlines are more elite-coded around breaches of fake protocol.
Oh, we’re definitely going to be getting ‘who wore it best’ articles. They’ll pit Harriet against Kate like the did Fergie against Diana.
She’s low-key being sponsored by Pragnell. And that three strand diamond bracelet….impressive. Harriet’s a quick learner.
Harriet. Pragnell. Upmarket product placement. Again.
She married grifter Milk Prince. Of course she’s on the grifter gravy train. She’s loving all the attention, loving the freebies, all the pay-for-placement deals.
Agreed. I picked her as an attention seeker and it appears my hunch was right. Otherwise, why would someone of her calibre marry Peter Phillips? However, I doubt she has worked as a nurse since the relationship became serious.
” She was named in the palace’s procession list as “Mrs. Peter Phillips”.
Kaiser, this is one of the UK royals’ antiquated, anti-female (anti-feminist?) traditions, where women are addressed by their husband’s titles, regardless of how they themselves wish to be addressed. It’s one of the things they were pissed off about re H+M’s wedding invitations, because on those, the ladies were addressed by their actual names and their surnames of choice. So Harriet would have been Mrs. Harriet Phillips instead of Mrs. Peter Phillips if she decided to take her husband’s last names. It’s an extension of “Princess Henry” instead of “Princess Meghan”, which every other royal household in the world uses. In the UK royal households, women are still regarded as an extension of their husbands.
Every single woman on that carriage list was listed as “Mrs. Husband’s Name”. Utterly cringeworthy.
This is pretty common in the US as well even now for formal events, like formal weddings and the like. It’s starting to move away from it a bit but its still the default. And its also a matter of age too I think. For my wedding we addressed all the envelopes to my mom’s friends as Mr and Mrs Husband Name, but my married friends were “Husband and Wife Last Name” (if she took his last name.)
Thanks for this perspective Becks1. I would understand if they had said “Mr. and Mrs. Phillips”, but they actually printed out “Mr Peter Phillips and Mrs. Peter Phillips” which, in the 21st century just seems super-weird. I like the way Harry and Meghan did their invitations, which recognised the married women in their own right and not as appendages to their husbands.
Oh I see! That definitely strikes me as weird (for the record, I dont like being called Mrs Husband’s First Name Last Name, isn’t it enough that I took his last name? Do I lose my first name too??). but I see your point in the difference between Mr and Mrs Husband Name and Mr Husband and Mrs Husband.
I wonder if they asked Harriet which she preferred or if they just did what they wanted per protocol.
That’s it Becks1. I don’t think they cared to ask. ALL of the married women were listed as Mrs. Husband’sFirstName Husband’sLastName. They’ll tell you it’s “protocol”. So H+M “broke protocol” by bringing their wedding invitations into modern times.
For example, in today’s carriages:
3rd Carriage
Mr Rory Stewart
Mrs Rory Stewart
The Lady Sarah Keswick
The Marchioness of Lansdowne
4th Carriage
Mr William Haggas
Mrs William Haggas
Mr John Gosden
Ms Rachel Hood
And so on. It’s beyond weird. On the day Harriet attended, it was even more obvious, because I think there were three carriages with married couples, and they were all listed like that. You pause at the first one and think “Huh?” (like, is this an error?) and then you realise that the other carriages’ attendees are also listed like that.
Like Mtl.ex.pat below, I too, had to have a second cup of coffee after my rant. 😀
I’ll add that it’s a miracle that they used “Ms” for Rachel Wood in the 4th carriage, because usually they just use Miss for unmarried ladies. I rather suspect that someone might have intervened here – unless she’s divorced and they feel they need to make the distinction.
There’s a great scene in the movie Something to Talk About (Julia Roberts & Dennis Quaid) where one of the women at the social meeting has a meltdown because she WANTS to be addressed by her husband’s name.
I think in North America they pushed back on the Mrs husband first and last name back in the 1970s. My mom had an old Sears credit card that was Mrs husband first and last name. But that card was replaced by the mid 80s with her first name.
It is so insanely sexist to still do this for a horse race parade. But the British are very backwards on this. They often still refer to women in a business context with Mrs or even worse Miss. meanwhile in north America all women are Ms in a work context no questions asked.
Okay, I’m turning this over in my head bc its bothering me that they’re listed separately, lol. I wonder if its to designate who is sitting where in the carriage? Like I wonder if you looked at the whole list if every name corresponds to a specific seat?
My son got married last year and they insisted on the invitations being addressed that way. When we gave them our list, I allowed it but made exceptions for a few couples who had different last names or who I knew would object to the practice. I didn’t want to argue about it but I do think it’s weirdly antiquated.
I really hate this. It’s as if the women have no identity of their own, not even their own first name. Their wives are all fungible, as if the first Mrs. Peter Phillips is indistinguishable from the second Mrs. Peter Phillips, or the third. Very misogynistic.
It’s exactly it. Women are mere chattel to their husband. No identity of their own.
Again all for a stupid horse race parade.
Mrs. Peter Phillips? What decade is this? Considering she’s the one with the better career while he lives off the family money he should probably be Mr. Harriet Sperling! Abolish the monarchy, smash the patriarchy, now I’m going to get another coffee after that morning rant.
Edit to add: I wrote this before Magdalena’s excellent comment above posted. Heartily agree with everything she said.
I am assuming that peters ex wife is Mrs autumn Phillips it is doubtful she would go back to using her maiden name
@tessa thanks for the comment, but that wasn’t the point. See Magdalena‘s response to Beck’s above my post. She really hits the nail in the head.
It was a random comment about what exes are called. I did not disagree with anything on the thread
My first MIL insisted that a husband and wife both use the husband’s name, so Mr and Mrs John Smith, and the wife only got her name back after being divorced, she would become Mrs Jane Smith. If she were a widow she would still be Mrs John Smith.
Harriet is very much trying to copy Kate, down to the guffawing, open mouthed laughing (in the Royal Box and at her own wedding, so common) but Suzannah is Sophie’s brand. I’ve always thought that Suzannah is like the Ford Fiesta of British brands so it fits. Kate gets the top-tier, like McQueen.
I loathe the buttoned-up, prim pastel aesthetic on Harriet – she’s got a great figure but she’s clearly doing a Sophie and going for dowdy, aka “don’t worry Kate, I will never display any sense of style so I won’t compare with you. Now upgrade us to working royals plz.” Compare this to Harriet’s boldly colored, perfectly tailored yellow dress for her first Ascot before she was married. Not even in the same style arena….Peter looks absolutely delighted every time he looks at her so I guess that’s all that matters once the Royal gravy train starts?
Camilla’s children were also there in the Royal Box so alongside Sir Ben it was Camilla Family Day!
Sophie has worn Suzannah for years but K has also worn at least two outfits by Suzannah. I mean, Suzannah does make coat dresses…
does Peter always ride in the carriage with Anne? I don’t recall seeing him there before but maybe he does and I just dont notice it? I dont think Zara rides in the carriages?
Honestly I think they should do away with the carriage procession. It just feeds into the idea that these people are worth seeing – I mean Tom Parker Bowles? Really? Have the monarch and spouse entier in the carriage and that’s it.
Harriet’s dress looks nice, she definitely has some sort of deal with Pragnell.
Peter and Harriet attended last year and rode in the carriage. She was described as his girlfriend. She actually looked pretty good. https://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/tradition/a65088655/harriet-sperling-peter-phillips-girlfriend-royal-ascot-2025/
Thanks!! I do remember that now. I had completely forgotten about that lol.
oh and also – I actually like Camilla’s look here, but I dont like the placement of the brooch or the brooch at all with that coat – it blends in to the pale blue too much, especially in the sunshine (but I bet it sparkled for sure.)
Agree, maybe had she worn the pin up on the crown it would have worked? But it’s not really necessary when you’re wearing one of ‘Granny’s Chips’.
True story, my family on my dad’s side in the US are pioneer feminists by any criteria. They would hate being outed on the internet but one of them ran a proprietary investment fund at a bulge bracket bank and one of them was the head of special education in a large city in a state that always ranks in the top 5 for educational attainment in the US. Often no. 1. They both address snail mail letters to me in the U.K. as “Mrs Husband’s-First-Name / Husband’s-Last-Name.” It might be because they assume the UK is more traditional? Which … it is, and it isn’t. It’s more courtly and its etiquette is more charmingly ritualised. It’s more ceremonial. But it’s not as ideologically strident as the US, whether that applies to moderns or ancients, or postmoderns or throwbacks. It’s a live-and-let-live place.
The ‘non royals ‘ waving to the plebs from their carriages is…. hilarious..worthy of a Kate guffaw
Girlfriend needs a good bra.
She’s worn Kate coded outfits since day one. Interesting she’s so keeeeen to get on the inside.
Oh Harriet. You are like the last morsel of food being thrown to a pack of starving rota hyenas. You couldn’t find a nice guy at the hospital to marry?
She didn’t want a nice guy to marry. She wanted a fellow grifter and that’s who she found.
Yep 👍
I think the even more obvious sig of Kate cosplay is the challah loaf attached to the back of her head.
Challah loaf!!! This sent me!
Yep. I clocked that. The challah loaf is loafing under the hat at an angle.
Has Harriet quit her job since marring the mill man because how come she has all this time to show up at all these events all the time now
I doubt she’s worked as a nurse for years. The royal family don’t marry workers. Her career was probably hyped up.
I really hate how the royal women dress. Their standard attire is old and ugly. The hats in particular are hideous, but so are the old lady dresses. I even disliked the clothes Meghan was expected to wear, and she looked much better after they left and she was free to dress as she pleases.
The men aren’t much better, either. I cannot stand their military cosplay, or the ridiculous hats they wear like in these photos. They always look like a joke.
Errrrrm…..Kaiser said the Rottweiler was wearing a diamond brooche in her HAT??
Is that the small thing attached to the BACK of the hat? Who, on God’s green earth wears a diamond brooch on the BACK of a hat?????
Sounds like something Queen Maxima has done.
Someone decide to “style” her instead of just pushing her out the door. I think a heavy veil would have suited her better and we all would have appreciated it.🤣
I’m sorry, but that dress is hideous. The color, the cut, the fit, the boobs below the ribs. The hat. The buttons. She is a beautiful woman, she deserves better than this.
That dress is what Oprah used to call a ” schlumpadinka”, it’s also straight up Sophie’s alley. She loves those ugly dresses. Do they only buy shoes in beige an black? Where’s the color for pop? All the beige shoes make their feet look chunky. Very orthopedic.
They look like extras from My Fair Lady.
Harriet is significantly prettier and healthier than Kate. She could be paying homage to Kate in an act of self-preservation. Or she’s trying to keep the wolves at bay by camouflaging herself as Kate, so Kate can’t see her and thinks she’s looking into a mirror (which she clearly loves).