What colour will The Queen wear to Royal Ascot?
What colour The Queen will be wearing at Royal Ascot is almost as widely anticipated as the racing among some fans.
Royal Ascot is one of The Queen’s favourite weeks of the year and the Royal often has runners at the meeting. But which colour has The Queen worn the most? And in which has she enjoyed the most success?
Ahead of this year’s Royal Meeting, bookmakers Sky Bet have conducted a study into The Queen’s racing outfits over the past 15 years.
Since 2000, shades of blue have been seen in the royal carriage 24 times. In fact, according to the study, 33% of The Queen’s outfits have been blue since then.
Not only is blue traditionally Her Majesty’s colour of choice for the opening day, it’s also her overall favourite colour for the five-day meeting.
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On day two, The Queen has historically tended to plump for pastel pink before again reverting to blue for the final three days.
The second-most popular colour for The Queen is green (21% of outfits) and then pink (20%).
“The whispers coming from Windsor Castle are suggesting that blue is expected to go very well at the Royal Meeting,” said Sebastian Butterworth of Sky Bet.
“Having witnessed the birth of her blue-eyed baby grand daughter, and welcomed in the Conservatives in for yet another term, my traders think blue is almost nailed on.
“However, for those looking for a bigger price, purple at 20/1 could be a lively outsider. The regal colour hasn’t been seen on the opening day for some time, and with purple the most prominent colour of The Queen’s own racing silks, the 20/1 on offer could represent a little bit of value.”
One colour you’re not likely to see in the royal carriage next week is red, as it hasn’t featured in the Royal ensemble once in over a decade.
Purple would appear to be The Queen’s luckiest colour. Not only does it feature on The Queen’s racing silks, but her two most recent Royal Ascot victories — both thanks to her mare Estimate — came on days she wore lilac and lavender outfits to the Berkshire course, including the 2012 Gold Cup.
Colour expert, Bernay Laity, added: “Purple is the ‘regal’ colour. Historically because until the advent of chemical dyes, it was a very rare dye to obtain and so only the wealthy could afford it. It communicates ‘purpose’ and power, also spirituality and attainment.
“This could be something that’s perhaps The Queen’s own personal tradition, or habitual ‘lucky charm’. Certainly The Queen is very in tune with the palette of colours which favour her best — light, soft, bluish tones. We will often gravitate towards those colours in which we feel the most comfortable and ourselves.
“I think The Queen possibly favours pink tones over red tones as a personal preference anyway. Many red tones would not suit her.”
The Queen’s Royal Ascot colours since the year 2000:
Blue (33% of outfits)
Green (21%)
Pink (20%)
White (16%)
Yellow (11%)
Brown (2%)
Cream (2%)
Orange (1%)
What’s your lucky colour? Find out here
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A graduate of Exeter University, Amy joined our news team from Redpin Publishing in 2008 as news writer. She was promoted to deputy news editor in May 2013 and became news editor in April 2015. She left Horse & Hound in March 2016 to take up an editorial position in Dubai.