The Queen will reportedly ditch her long-standing traditional entrance at Royal Ascot amid her ongoing mobility problems.
The monarch usually attends every day of the horse racing meeting and takes part in a procession at the beginning of each day by riding in a horse-drawn landau carriage.
She has travelled in a carriage into the racecourse nearly every year of her reign until the Covid pandemic.
But due to her apparent discomfort in travelling in horse-drawn carriages, the Daily Mail reports that at this year's Royal Ascot next month, she will arrive by car instead.
A source told the publication's Richard Eden: "It’s the end of an era. Carriages are no longer possible for Her Majesty.
"It’s not the ride that’s the problem, but the steep steps that are needed to get into and down from the landau.
"The Queen hopes very much to attend Royal Ascot, each day if possible. She will arrive by car, though."
In recent months, the Queen has been forced to pull out of several high-profile events including the Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey and the State Opening of Parliament due to her mobility issues.
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However, she has been well enough to make appearances at the Royal Windsor Horse Show and Paddington Station for the official opening of the new Elizabeth Line.
Yesterday, she also toured the Chelsea Flower Show but was chauffeured around by buggy - enjoying the creations of some of the world’s top garden designers from the comfort of the back seat.
With her stick by her side, the Queen sat back and was driven around in a Royal Household electric vehicle by a chauffeur in a peaked cap, from the monarch’s staff.
Keith Weed, president of the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) which stages the event, sat beside the monarch and gave her a running commentary of the many gardens she stopped to view and introduced her to gardeners and sponsors.
Buckingham Palace confirmed the vehicle, which was built by Danish firm Garia, was a Royal Household buggy.
It is the first time in nearly a decade that the monarch is believed to have used a buggy at an official engagement.
The Queen was seen in a golf buggy nine years ago in 2013 during the Coronation Festival in the gardens of Buckingham Palace. She also used one during a tour to Australia in 2011, when she visited Government House in Canberra.
A Buckingham Palace spokeswoman said: “Adjustments have been made for the Queen’s comfort.”
