Interestingly enough that I always compare Royal Ascot with Christmas, as you wait for entire year, making plans and ordering hats, but then it comes and dashes by in a blink of an eye, leaving you to wait for another year.
Royal Ascot race meeting (it’s origins stem from introduction of the Gold Cup in 1807), is perhaps one of the most important social event of what is generally known as ‘the season’ (in a by-gone era it was period of various social rituals designed for debutants to secure a ‘good match’), however now became increasingly utilised for corporate entertainment. Be that as it may, whether you are going there actually to see the races, as a corporate guest or just merely to see and be seen, it is always a unique and incomparable experience.
One never knows what is most intoxicating: a fizz of crispy champagne bubbles, mood-uplifting hustle and bustle of your luncheon companions, scent of freshly cut grass mingling with a smell of Cohiba cigars, firm staccato of commentator’s voice or adrenalin pumping cheers escaping the crowd as horses approach the finishing line. And then there are ladies in their finery, a parade of amazing hats created by the best milliners in all colours of the rainbow.
The seasoned race-goers might say that Royal Ascot is no longer what it used to be, but that is not a case, if you were lucky enough to have been invited to a picnic luncheon in the Number 1 car park (the most prestigious location for reception or picnic) hosted by etiquette guru and party planner Liz Brewer and George & Tatiana Piskov. The style and elegance here is in abundance, guest-list includes the crème de la crème of English society, titled members of old aristocratic families, socialites and business tycoons. Traditions, good manners, elegant and well-groomed appearances almost create the illusion that one has traveled back in time. All what Royal Ascot is supposed to be about — good old traditions!
by Aisté Anusaité-Daubaras
UK Representative of International School of Etiquette
