Queen Elizabeth II arrives at Royal Ascot to cheer on her horses – in pictures

The monarch turned out for the final day of the famous racing meet

Queen Elizabeth II arrives at Royal Ascot 2021 at Ascot Racecourse. Getty Images

Queen Elizabeth II smiles as she arrives to attend the fifth day of the Royal Ascot horse-racing meet in Ascot, west of London. AFP

Crowds cheer and clap as Queen Elizabeth II arrives by car on day five of Royal Ascot at Ascot Racecourse. PA Images

Racegoers wait for Queen Elizabeth II on day five of the Royal Ascot meet at Ascot Racecourse. Getty Images

Crowds cheer and clap as Queen Elizabeth II arrives on day five of Royal Ascot at Ascot Racecourse. PA Images

Queen Elizabeth II meets jockey Frankie Dettori on the fifth day of the Royal Ascot horse-racing meet. AFP

Queen Elizabeth II attends the fifth day of the Royal Ascot horse-racing meet. AFP

Queen Elizabeth II and racing manager John Warren speak with jockey Oisin Murphy during day five of Royal Ascot. PA Images

Queen Elizabeth II leaves Royal Ascot. PA Images

Queen Elizabeth II this weekend attended Royal Ascot, the famous English horse racing event, for the first time since 2019.

The monarch attended on Saturday, the final day in the five-day event.

A regular at the annual occasion, she was unable to attend the 2020 races as they were held behind closed doors owing to coronavirus restrictions. However, the 2021 event was permitted to run with a maximum capacity of 12,000 racegoers.

The Queen arrived at the event at 2pm on Saturday to watch four of her horses – Reach for the Moon, Tactical, Light Refrain and King's Lynn – run.

The royal wore a mint-green hat and coat, covering a floral dress of a co-ordinating shade.

Annually, there is much discussion about the Queen's sartorial colour choices. This year, the most popular predictions were blue, green and red, on account of the overcast weather.

On the first four days of Royal Ascot, Queen Elizabeth II was notably absent. However, a number of British royals attended the races, including Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, Anne, the Princess Royal, Zara and Mike Tindall, Peter Philips, and Prince Edward and Sophie, Countess of Wessex.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge did not attend the 2021 meet.

Other famous faces in the crowd included Simon Cowell and partner Lauren Silverman, singer Sinitta, television presenter Rosie Tapner, and newsreader Charlotte Hawkins.

Ascot Racecourse has a capacity of 70,000. However, 12,000 racegoers were permitted to attend daily this year, under capped Covid-19 precautions, because the occasion was held as an Events Research Programme set up by the UK government.