Striking hats turn heads at Royal Ascot

Racegoers, royals and celebrities were greeted by bright sunshine at the Berkshire racecourse on the third day of the meeting.

The Queen, wearing a lilac suit with a matching hat, accessorised with orange flowers, was applauded as she arrived at the racecourse in a horse-drawn carriage.

She was accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh, the Duke of York and the Crown Prince of Bahrain in the first carriage, with Princess Anne, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie following them in the procession.

The youngest princesses were wearing eye-catching outfits, with Princess Eugenie in a bright pink hat and her sister head-to-toe in navy blue.

Celebrities enjoying the racing included actress Joan Collins, veteran presenter Bruce Forsyth, Strictly Come Dancing judge Bruno Tonioli and the composer Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Eye-catching headgear on display included a hat in the shape of a hat box, worn by 49-year-old Desanka Cvijanovic.

Mrs Cvijanovic, from York, said it had taken her sister-in-law, milliner Nataliya Tutus, six months to create the black-and-white striped hat, with turquoise, lemon and green flowers on top.

She said: "There were so many beautiful hats last year that when I had a chat with her, I said we should think outside the box.

"When I said that, she suggested making the hat box. Lots of people have thought it was a real box, rather than a hat."