What is Royal Ascot, and why does everyone wear funky hats?

It's Royal Ascot 2024 this week, which means lots of fancy outfits, royal visitors, and a big collection of funky hats.

Royal Ascot is a big horseracing event, held at Ascot, in Berkshire.

The area is owned by the Crown Estate, and the Royal Family regularly visit, and head to the event every year.

It's become a bit of a tradition for racegoers to wear colourful and sometimes unusual hats, along with their formal outfits.

Royal Ascot's location was first set up by Queen Anne, way back in 1711.

She was reportedly riding around Windsor and found an area that would be perfect for riding horses.

It was then regularly used for horseracing and events called 'meetings', which is where a series of horse races are held in one place.

There are different dress codes for different 'enclosures' of Ascot, but the main theme is smart day-wear.

There's options of smart suits and smart dresses, and many people opt for a smart hat.

Because of the royal audience, people often dress to impress, and a theme of style and status has developed at the event.

This often includes a fascinator - which is a particularly fancy type of hat.

Fascinators are also sometimes worn at other events, like weddings.

Racegoers arrived at Ascot on 19 June for the first day of the event.

There was some bright sunshine, so people's outfits were truly able to shine.

Royal Ascot continues until the end of the weekend, with plenty of races for people to watch along the way.