Traditional dress on display as saris brighten up Royal Ascot on hottest day of the year

ITV News Correspondent Martha Fairlie reports on how diversity in the form of fashion was embraced at this year's Royal Ascot

Scores of women wore traditional saris on Ladies' Day of the Royal Ascot, brightening up the horse racing event with colourful dresses on the hottest day of the year so far.

Hundreds of racegoers donned their finery on the third of the five-day event in Berkshire, which is expected to attract some 270,000 people overall, as temperatures exceeded 29C.

This year's Royal Ascot saw an array of saris - a garment traditionally worn by women in south Asia - on display.

It was part of an initiative to encourage women from south Asian backgrounds to wear such garments while supporting artisan weavers who lost their incomes during the pandemic.

"Being London born and bred, and to be in a country that celebrates diversity like this, is not something I take lightly," one woman dressed in a sari at Royal Ascot said.

"I think it is amazing."

Famous faces including Robert Rinder, Charlotte Hawkins and Lady Victoria Hervey were all spotted at the event on Thursday, but one notable figure missing was the Queen.

In 2021, the event was capped at 12,000 spectators per day due to Covid curbs, and it was held without any spectators the year before that.

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