Lady Gabriella's Comeback: Grieving Widow Bonds With Princess Anne at Royal Ascot in First Event Since Husband's Death

It's Royal Ascot Week 2024, and one of the most significant appearances so far came when the widowed Lady Gabriella Windsor shared a carriage ride with Princess Anne. The aristocrat looked "sensational" in a bright pink hat with a "lovely" floral pattern dress as she beamed with smiles nearly four months after Thomas Kingston took his own life.

It is the second time King Charles III and Queen Camilla have led the summer season mainstay of the royal calendar, which has been a popular royal event since the reign of Queen Anne in the early 1700s. The race has been known as "royal week" since the reign of King George V in 1911. The race festivities were said to be a personal favorite of the late Queen Elizabeth II, who reportedly looked forward to the event every summer.

Zara Tindall did not ride in the traditional royal carriage procession on racing grounds but greeted her grieving cousin with a hug. Both Lady Gabriella and Thomas attended Royal Ascot last summer, which was captured in what was now called "gut-wrenchingly sad" photos of the deceased financier smiling and enjoying the races.

Lady Gabriella is the daughter of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent, who rarely represents King Charles III and Queen Camilla at royal events seldomly. Thomas and Lady Gabriella were married in St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle in May 2019, in a ceremony attended by Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip. The aristocratically-titled writer for The London Magazine met Thomas and became engaged for marriage in 2018.

After news of his death broke on February 27, a statement on behalf of Lady Gabriella and Thomas's family read: "It is with the deepest sorrow that we announce the death of Thomas Kingston, our beloved husband, son and brother. Tom was an exceptional man who lit up the lives of all who knew him. His death has come as a great shock to the whole family, and we ask you to respect our privacy as we mourn his passing."

Ascot is one of many summer royal traditions that were preceded by Buckingham Palace garden parties, Trooping the Colour and the Order of the Garter service. In July, the King and Queen are expected to make an annual one-week stay at the Palace of Holyrood House in Edinburgh, Scotland. This could be curtailed or even "expanded" due to the U.K. general election on July 4, whose results will require the monarch to ask the sitting or new prime minister to form a government in his name.

At some point in the season, Charles III and Queen Camilla are expected to vacation at Balmoral Castle, which will continue his mother's long tradition of taking summer holidays at the elusive estate in the Highlands. Elizabeth II typically spent late July-early October within the castle's walls and grounds, which is the same timeframe His Majesty adopted last year.

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