Royal Ascot 2020: Rainbow-themed hats raise £24,000 for charity

The hats were created by British milliners with rainbow colours, which have become a popular theme of lockdown

More than 40 rainbow-themed hats to celebrate Royal Ascot in lockdown have raised £24,000 for front-line charities.

Flat racing's biggest meeting took place behind closed doors for the first time this year due to coronavirus.

Royal Ascot and the British Hat Guild invited milliners to create hats using the popular lockdown rainbow theme.

Of the 44 hats, Jane Taylor and Lisa Tan's raised the most, realising £1,250 and £1,200 respectively.

Creations by Lisa Tan (left) and Jane Taylor collectively raised £2,450

Some of the other high-profile milliners involved in the project included Stephen Jones, who has created catwalk designs for the likes of Vivienne Westwood, and Lock & Co, Rachel Trevor-Morgan and Vivien Sheriff.

• Royal Ascot: Day one's virtual racegoers

• Royal Ascot 2020: Day two's virtual racegoers

The cash raised will be split between four front-line charities - The National Emergencies Trust Relief Fund, NHS Charities Together, The Care Workers Charity and the Berkshire Community Foundation.

Virtual racegoers also posted pictures of themselves on social media during the five-day event, which ended on Saturday, using the hashtag #StyledWithThanks, while raising cash for the charities.

The fundraiser has so far collected more than £163,000, which has included £30,000 made from the sale of Frankie Dettori's commemorative saddle cloth which he donated to the cause following his 70th Royal Ascot win on Friday.

London-based milliner Judy Bentinck's creation included multi-coloured hearts