The Queen, 94, is breaking a royal tradition by not attending this year’s Royal Ascot due to the coronavirus pandemic. It’ll be the first time in Her Majesty’s 68-year reign that she’ll have missed the horse racing event.
Even pregnancy, a speech to Parliament or an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease never kept Queen Elizabeth II away in the past.
The five-day equestrian event began on Tuesday without spectators, the royal carriage procession and trophy presentations. Despite not attending the event, which is taking place June 16-20, the Queen did still write the introduction to the race cards, as she normally would.