It started out so well, as hundreds of well turned out ladies filed into the biggest event of the racing calendar wearing galmorous outfits and showing off fabulous hats.

But a few hours on the scene is not so classy. In fact it's rather messy as the heels have come off, the hats have been discarded and many of the women have taken to benches for a lie down.

It seems that a full day of glugging down champers and cheering on horses really can take its toll and the females of Ladies' Day might have sore heads in the morning.

Yet earlier in the day it was tailored suits, glamorous in form-fitting dresses and eye-catching in supersized hats as excited racegoers pulled out all the stops as they arrived for sunny Ladies' Day on the third day at Royal Ascot.

One of the most eagerly anticipated events on the racing calendar, Ladies' Day is as famous for its fashion as it is for the racing and as a result, all eyes were on the paddock as ladies made their way to their seats.

Happily for style watchers, they didn't disappoint with towering plumes of feathers, supersized blooms and a even bizarre titfer designed to look like a jug of Pimms spotted on the heads of racegoers - totally eclipsing the demure shift dresses beneath.

But not everyone was angling for a win in the wacky stakes. Monochrome once again proved popular, with cream, white and nude running it a close second.

Pretty florals, a Royal Ascot staple, also proved a hit with racegoers as did glamorous lace which appeared in a range of hot hues, among them coral and cheerful fuchsia pink.

Others opted for dramatic summer black - a huge trend for the hot months - and used their hats to make a statement, with huge marabou plumes and brims that could have doubled as a parasol all making an appearance.

Surprisingly, Royal Ascot's infamous fashion police were left with little to do - unlike on day two when Strictly Come Dancing's Kristina Rhianoff was escorted off the course thanks to a bizarre Ben de Lisi frock made from betting slips.

While several racegoers were clearly at the course in the hopes of being photographed, their wacky looks couldn't eclipse the sight of racegoers drawn from all corners of the UK resplendent in the loveliest hats they could find.

Men too, among them Channel 4 style correspondent Gok Wan and Jemma Kidd's husband, Arthur Wellesley, Earl of Mornington, were dapper in grey or black morning dress enlivened with colourful waistcoats and equally bright ties.

Watching the gaily-dressed crowds stream along the racecourse was Claire Balding who has impressed fashion watchers over the past few days, working a pretty floral dress and bright pink hat on day two after wowing onlookers in a cheerful coral-red suit as the race meeting kicked off.

Mr Wan, with Ms Balding on the course, looked thrilled by the stylish fillies strutting their stuff in the paddock - many of whom appeared to have taken his style advice to heart.

Ahead of the opening race, he told MailOnline that monochrome and florals were likely to be popular with racegoers and as day two got underway, he appeared to be proved correct.

‘There’s going to be a lot of monochrome and quite a lot of colour clash,’ he prophesied. ‘Floral prints are a huge trend throughout the whole of the summer as well.

‘It’s going to feel very, very beautiful English garden. Of course, there will be the big-brimmed hats as well and this season we’ve gone very clean and neat with our tailoring, and we’ve put that on to prints as well.

'So expect to see loads and loads of sharp lines, which will be quite unusual for Ascot. I think it’ll be very exciting.’

Away from the fashion, racing took centre stage although things once again proved disappointing for the Queen when her filly Estimate lost out to Irish horse Leading Light in the Gold Cup - a trophy that the steed took home last year.

Nevertheless, the monarch, who was joined by a dapper Duke of Edinburgh for the ceremonial procession, does at least have happy memories of last year's race - and wrote glowingly of her experience in last year's event in the official foreword to the Ascot programme,

'I would like to thank those of you who were here for the wonderful welcome the filly received after performing so well, and also those who were kind enough to send messages afterwards,' wrote the Queen.

'To win at Royal Ascot is challenging and I know how much work goes into preparing every one of the horses racing. All those involved deserve great credit as well as our gratitude.'

Unfortunately for the Queen, this week has proved less than lucky so far, with her performers in yesterday's races also failing to live up to their billing.

First up with Musical Comedy, a highly regarded three-year-old who could only manage a lowly 18th place in the Jersey Stakes - a race that was eventually taken by the chestnut Mustajeeb, a steed owned by Dubai's crown prince Hamdan bin Mohammed al-Maktoum.

Then disaster struck again in the penultimate race of the day, when the Queen's horse Sea Shanty lost out to Field of Dream, a British bred thoroughbred, and finished in fourth place behind Steeler - a chestnut owned by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum's Godolphin.

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