Royal Ascot: Fergie gives the Queen a cheery wave as monarch arrives without Prince Philip

Sarah Ferguson: She was delighted to see the Queen again
PA
Mark Chandler23 June 2017

The Duchess of York gave the Queen a cheery wave as the royal carriage pulled up at Ascot on Friday.

Fergie, who divorced from Prince Andrew 21 years ago, was joined by Princess Beatrice at the Parade Ring.

The pair also performed a curtsey for the monarch.

Her Majesty looked radiant in mint green as she arrived without the Duke of Edinburgh.

Queen Elizabeth II in the parade ring during day four of Royal Ascot
PA Wire/PA Images

Prince Philip is continuing to recover from an infection which saw him spend two nights in hospital.

Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson and Princess Eugenie
REUTERS

The Duke has cancelled his forthcoming appearance at a London Zoo event due to the illness.

The Queen's consort was due to visit the popular attraction next Wednesday, in his role as an honorary fellow of the Zoological Society of London, to present the Prince Philip Award for Contributions to Zoology.

Delighted: The Queen
PA Wire/PA Images

Buckingham Palace said there were no current plans for Philip to miss other royal engagements later this month.

Queen Elizabeth II speaks with jockey Jim Crowley
PA Wire/PA Images

The Duke spent two nights at a private London hospital after being admitted on Tuesday evening, as a precautionary measure, for treatment for an undisclosed infection.

Racegoers watching the Queen's Vase race during day four of Royal Ascot at Ascot
PA Wire/PA Images

He was discharged on Thursday morning, but has not joined the Queen at Royal Ascot, an important event in her private summer calendar.

A Buckingham Palace spokeswoman said: "The Duke of Edinburgh will not be visiting London Zoo on Wednesday 27th June as he continues to recuperate.

“There are no current plans for His Royal Highness to cancel other forthcoming engagements."

Thankfully there were no signs on Friday of the shameful scenes from Ladies Day at the racecourse when a large, shirtless man appeared to engage in a drunken brawl.

Video published online shows two men tussle on one of the lawns at the famous Berkshire racecourse.

An Ascot spokesman said: “It is disappointing when an antisocial small minority behave inappropriately."

“In a crowd of 70,000 sadly such incidences are hard to entirely eradicate but our staff and the police act on information as soon as they can.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in