After a carriage procession on Wednesday, Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, head back to Royal Ascot for another day of horse racing on Thursday. This time she skipped the procession, but brought a special guest, her 92-year-old father. Christopher Rhys-Jones. Rhys-Jones, a retired automotive executive, donned a gray top hat and walked with her daughter into the royal precinct, where they held hands and posed for photographers.
With Sophie’s husband, Prince Edward, they were there like King Charles III won the first race of the week. The king enters the desert Hero horse, which is ridden by the jockey Tom Marquand, in George V Handicap, where he finished first and was presented with the trophy by his cousin, who Duke of Kent.
After the race, his granddaughter Zara Tindall spoke to reporters about the icon. “It’s sweet, isn’t it?” she speaks. “To think how proud and excited our grandmother will be, so will the queen. But to have a winner for Charles and Camilla, to keep that dream alive, is unbelievable. And what a race, aside [from] all those things.”
As on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, the king and Queen Camila lead the chariots, where they are joined by the horse trainer Mark Prescott and Earl of Snowdon, Princess Margaret’s son. Princess Anne and her husband Sir Tim Laurence riding on a second chariot with the royal family of Qatar Sheikh Hamid bin Abdullah Al Thani and the king’s old horse, Lord Soames of Fletching. Princess Margaret’s Daughter Lady Sarah Chatto and her husband Daniel Chatto boarded the third carriage with Camilla’s companion Baroness Carlyn Chisholm of Owlpen and her husband, Colin Chisholm.
Sophie doesn’t often appear with her father at royal events, but in 2021 she spoke of her excitement over being vaccinated against the coronavirus. At an event later that year, Sophie spoke of the grief of her mother, Mary, who passed away in 2005. “Even now, I still miss her very much,” she said. “There are times when I hear music she loves or I do something that I know she wants to hear, which makes it very difficult for her to leave early.”
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