Up until the first half of the 20th Century, all divorcees were automatically banned from the Royal Enclosure. Instead they had to sit in a separate stand outside the Royal Enclosure called the Iron Stand [which was for men only - divorced women just could not attend!!] The rules were slightly amended at one point to allow innocent parties to attend, when old Queen Mary [who had been a sworn enemy of divorcees] handed in her veto. However, how the decision to grant a Voucher was made by the particular HMR has never been disclosed. I have mentioned above that if you are a jailbird, then you are not going to get in, ditto if you are a peson of dubious moral virtue. But over the years there has been great anguish, with perfectly respectable people being unable to secure admission.
Interestingly, both Sarah [no surprise, I suppose] and Diana were banned from Royal Ascot. In the year following her separation, Diana reputedly said that she wished to go to Royal Ascot on the Thursday [ Gold Cup Day aka Ladies' Day] but was told that she had been banned...........
If you are granted the privilege of admission to the Royal Enclosure, you have to comply with a strict dress code: Men must wear formal dress: Top Hat, Tail Coat, Waistcoat, Trousers. The Tail Coat HAS to be black or grey, ditto the Top Hat. Black is reckoned to be the most smart, athough Royals seem to have both black and grey suits. Make of that what you will. Ladies have to wear formal day dress. This can be either a dress or a trouser suit - but the trouser suit must be made of matching material. Shoulder straps of dresses must be at least an inch wide. Hats are compulsory.
The history of the Trouser suit at Royal Ascot is rather strange -and by the way, short skirts have never been banned at Royal Ascot, [unlike at Henley Royal Regatta, where knees can NEVER be shown]. What happened at Ascot was that in the 1960's, several girls turned up wearing hot pants, and they were deemed unacceptable. At that time, HMR was the old Duke of Norfolk, and he decreed that even trousers would be better than hot pants because less flesh was visible. What he was actually saying was that trousers could be worn, but people did not realise that he was talking literally - they thought he meant that trousers were also beyone the pale but at least would have been better than hot pants! It was only about 15 years ago that people suddenly cottoned onto the fact that trousers had NOT been banned by the old HMR the Duke of Norfolk, who by that time had been succeeded by both the Marquess of Abergavenny and Sir Piers Bengough as HMRs!
If your dress is sleeveless, then it must have starps AT LEAST one inch wide - so no bare shoulders. The Hat can now be replaced by a substantial fascinator, but the crown of the head must be covered by this. Stockings, tights etc are required in theory, but this seems to have gone by the board in recent years, because I have seen a lot of bare legs over the years.
And now to the really sad part: the effect of redevelopment of the Ascot racecourse. Up until 2005 the design of Ascot race course was quite interesting: the Paddock was actually separate from the Grandstand Enclosure: this meant that the physical Grandstand of the Grandstand Enclosure was one side of the Royal Enclosure, and the actual Paddock was the other side of the Royal Enclosure. Racegoers who bought tickets for the Grandstand enclosure [open to all - no vetting required etc] therefore were entitled to go to the Paddock and to do this they had to go down tunnels under the Royal enclosure: The Paddock don't foget is open to both holders of the Grandstand tickets and members of the Royal enclosure. Thus, in the actual physical Paddock there would be both Royal Enclosure-ites and Grandsand Enclosure-ites, and that after inspecting the horses in the Paddock before each race, both sets of race goers would return to their separate enclosures. And here is the really lovely bit of the old system: The Royal Family would be mingling in the Paddock Enclosure with everyone - both Royal Enclosure-ites and Grandstand ticket holders. When it was time for everyone to return [i.e. just before the start of each race] the Royal Family would walk back to the Royal Enclosure, their way being marked not by large fences but by rather sweet 'whitepainted tram lines on the ground'. Sadly in 2006 the new course opened - and now the Paddock is in the Grandstand Enclosure and the Royals don't mix and mingle any more: it's the Queen enters the Paddock via a tunnel from the Royal Box in the Royal Enclosure and so she is kept well away from most people. I think that that is so very sad.
I have mentioned the strict dress code for Royal Enclosure-ites; before the old day there was a separate entrance to the Royal Enclosure with ladies checking that you were adhering to the dress code and refusing to let you in unless you complied [which often meant a quick trip into Ascot town for a 'complying' hat or skirt or whatever was wrong. Nowadays, everyone enters Ascot through a common entrance gate, and although the Royal Enclosure is still separate, there are no people checking to make sure you have got it right. Having said that though, most of the horrors to which people here have referred are being worn by those in the Grandstand, not the Royal Enclosue. Don't forget that anyone can turn up and buy a ticket for the grandstand enclosure - it was reported in the papers that a prostitute had gained admission. Well, that was only to the Grandstand, and because of the new system of keeping the Queen apart, there was no chance of HM encountering a hooker.
One more point: the new system is felt to be more democratic; surely that is nonsense, as the Queen is now so separate from everyone.
Some final points: Royal Enclosure badge checking is carried out by gentlemen [mostly very old retired gentlemen, many of whom were workers on the Royal Estates] wearing 'bowler hatst. They are known as 'Bowler Hats', as in 'My Royal Enclosure badge has just been checked by a Bowler Hat'.
Oh and full marks to Princess Eugenie - after she had presented a Trophy the other day, she did not go back to the Royal Box from the Paddock via the Royal Tunnel, but actually left by a common staircase, mingling with everybody, just like the old days.
And a word about the Royal Box: before the redevelopment, it was a lovely part of the grandstand in the Royal Enclosure [not to be confused with the Grandstand in the Grandstand enclosure!!] and we used to sit alongside it and the Queen Mother even used to wave to us. Now the Royal Box is a rather charmless affair, very cut off - and the poor Queen finds the visibility terrible as it was designed for taller people! The Royal Box is equipped with several TVs and so the Queen keeps one tuned to the Royal Ascot Racing transmission; the Duke of Edinburgh keeps his TV tuned to .......the cricket, if at all possible, because he dislikes racing [this is reputedly because he prefers to participate in horse sports, not spectate, and so he has reputedly never 'got into' horse racing.
Following the end of racing each day, the Queen leaves in a car not in a carriage procession - the cars have all driven back to Windsor. And then everything restarts again the next day.....
Hope some of this helps,
Alex.