Summary
The Royal Enclosure is the Members' enclosure at Royal Ascot. A new Member needs two sponsors, jump to Membership who have each attended as Members for at least five years. If you don't know a Member, one way in is hospitality, jump to The other way in: our Panoramic Restaurant booking includes Royal Enclosure admission on a guest badge. Children under 10 are never admitted, jump to Who isn't admitted, and the badge can only be worn with the full dress code.
An enclosure at Ascot is a separate area of the racecourse with its own rules on who can come in and what they wear. Royal Ascot has four of them. The Windsor, Village and Queen Anne enclosures are open to the public. The fourth is the Royal Enclosure, which Ascot runs as a Members' enclosure.
How Royal Enclosure membership works
Membership is by approval of His Majesty's Representative, who oversees Ascot on the King's behalf. To apply, you need two sponsors who are Members themselves. Ascot's rule is that a sponsor must have attended the Royal Enclosure as a Member for at least five years. Those years don't have to be consecutive. Two Members who live at the same address can't both sponsor the same person, so a couple who share a home can only supply one of your two names.
Each Member can sponsor up to two new applicants in a Royal Ascot year, which Ascot's terms count from July to June. You have to be 18 or over at the time of the meeting. The Ascot Authority, the body that runs the racecourse, can turn down any application without giving a reason. It can also cap the number of new Members each year, and applications beyond that cap may go onto a waiting list or be declined.
There is a shorter route for people who first came as children. Anyone aged 18 to 25 who came to the Royal Enclosure as a Junior, the name for guests aged 10 to 17, can apply as a Young Member. They need only one sponsor, who can be a parent or a family friend.
An annual subscription starts with the 2027 meeting, and Members pay it to keep their membership. Renewal for 2027 opened on 1 September 2026 and closes on 30 October 2026. A Member who lets it lapse loses their recorded years of attendance, and with them the right to sponsor anyone. Every January, His Majesty's Representative sends each Member a postal invitation, and that is when Members can book their badges for June.
The other way in: Royal Enclosure hospitality
If you don't know a Member, one way into the Royal Enclosure is as a hospitality guest. Royal Ascot 2027 runs from Tuesday 15 to Saturday 19 June. Our booking in the Panoramic Restaurant includes Royal Enclosure admission on a guest badge, so no Member needs to bring you. It is hospitality admission rather than membership. A Member's badge can only be bought by the Member, directly from Ascot, and we don't offer one.
The Panoramic Restaurant is on Level 6 of the Grandstand, and it looks over the track and the winning post. You sit at a private table for two to twelve guests, and larger groups are seated next to each other where possible. The day starts with a glass of Champagne and canapés. Lunch is four courses, and afternoon tea is Raymond Blanc's and comes with a glass of Champagne.
The bar is complimentary, and it includes Champagne. The Royal Enclosure dress code applies to everyone on a guest badge, so we go through it with your party when we confirm the booking. Our team is at the racecourse throughout the day.
If the Royal Enclosure isn't the point of the day for your group, we also arrange tables in the Queen Anne Enclosure. That is Ascot's main public enclosure. From there you can see the horses walk round the Parade Ring before each race and watch the racing from the trackside. The choices there run from the On-5 and Furlong restaurants to a private box for 10 to 14 guests. In the Village Enclosure, the Restaurant in the Village serves lunch from the centre of the track.
What a Member's badge covers
- The enclosure itselfThe badge opens the Royal Enclosure Gardens and lawns and the Royal Enclosure side of the Grandstand.
- Its own restaurantsMembers and their guests can book restaurants in the Royal Enclosure Gardens that are closed to everyone else.
- Two guests a dayA Member can bring up to two guests on each day from Wednesday to Saturday. Member guest badges are not available on the Tuesday.
- Juniors aged 10 to 17Juniors can come with their parents on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Their badges have to be booked in advance.
The badge carries your title and your full name, and only you can wear it. Ascot still styles badges the traditional way. A married woman's badge reads "Mrs John Smith" unless she asks the Royal Enclosure Office to change it. Only British military and hereditary titles appear, and "Esq." is kept for British gentlemen. An international gentleman's badge says "Mr".
If a guest can't come, the Member brings that guest's badge on the day, and Ascot rewrites it in the replacement guest's name for an administration fee. To get in, you need your badge and a form of ID such as a driving licence or bank card. You also need the digital admission that Ascot emails to Members before the meeting. A badge can't be swapped, sold or given away as a prize.
Who isn't admitted
Children under 10 are not admitted on any day, and that includes babies. Buggies are not allowed either. Juniors aged 10 to 17 can only come on the Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and only with their parents. A Member's guests attend with a Member, and Members can't bring guests on the Tuesday. If the Member who invited them can no longer come, the Royal Enclosure Office can authorise moving the guests to another Member.
A badge can only be worn by someone who meets the dress code. Anyone who doesn't can be sent to the Queen Anne Enclosure instead, and Ascot can refuse them entry. Members answer for their guests' behaviour as well as their own. Ascot can suspend or withdraw any membership at its own discretion.
Overseas visitors have a separate route. Embassies and High Commissions in London can put forward a list of their nationals to attend, and overseas visitors can also apply for membership under the normal rules.
The dress code
In the Royal Enclosure, men wear morning dress in black, grey or navy with a black or grey top hat. Women wear a dress or skirt that falls just above the knee or longer, or a matching trouser suit or a jumpsuit below the knee, with a hat or a headpiece on a base of at least 10cm.
A short history of the Royal Enclosure
The enclosure began in 1807, when an area was set aside for George III's family, guests and Household to watch the first Gold Cup. The Gold Cup is still run and is Ascot's oldest surviving race. In 1822 George IV commissioned a two-storey stand, the Royal Stand, with a lawn around it. Only people he invited could go in.
The area in front of the Royal Stand was fenced off in 1845. That followed a visit from Emperor Nicholas I of Russia. He went down into the Winners' Enclosure with the King of Saxony and Prince Albert to look over the winner of the Queen's Vase. The Winners' Enclosure is where the winning horses are brought after each race.
In 1901 Lord Churchill became the first official Representative of the monarch at Ascot. He is said to have vetted applications to the Royal Enclosure himself, sorting the letters into three baskets marked "Certainly", "Perhaps" and "Certainly Not".
Edward VII died shortly before the 1910 meeting, and the racing went ahead in mourning. Racegoers in the Royal Enclosure wore black, and the only exceptions were the white flowers and strings of pearls some women wore. Ascot still calls that year Black Ascot. Divorced men were barred from the Royal Enclosure until 1955, when the rule was relaxed.
Emma Harrod
Managing Director of Leicester Sales
Managing Director of Leicester Sales at Imperial Corporate Events. She gets to know what suits you, then makes the day happen without the fuss.
