AP Photos: At Royal Ascot, the hats are almost as important as the horses

Every summer, British royals and thousands of others get dressed to the nines for Royal Ascot, a glamorous annual horse racing event that dates back to 1711, when Queen Anne founded Ascot Racecourse in southern England.

The outfits are fancy but the hats are the main fashion attraction — extravagant, elaborate and sometimes gravity-defying. This year's standouts included a giant sunflower, several feathered numbers, and an “Alice in Wonderland”-themed hat with playing cards, a clock and a ribbon that read “We're all mad here."

Some 300,000 visitors usually attend the Royal Ascot over five days.

This year, King Charles III and Queen Camilla were among them, and some attendees at Ladies Day Thursday said they had designed their hats specifically to pay tribute to the new monarch.

Viv Jenner, a milliner, wore a hat made for the wearer to look through the flowered brim at the center, made from feathers.

“I designed this with the king in mind, it’s new beginnings," she said. “That’s why I decided to use the king’s silks, his racing colours of scarlet and purple with the gold represented by my accessories like my gold handbag.”

Charles and Camilla are carrying on the tradition of the late Queen Elizabeth II, who died in September. She was an avid horse lover, owner and breeder. She was not able to attend last year's Ascot, reportedly the first time she had missed it in 70 years.

Charles and Camilla looked delighted Thursday when their horse — Desert Hero, an 18-1 longshot — won one of Thursday’s races.

The king’s niece, Zara Tindall, said Queen Elizabeth II would have been “proud and excited” to see the royal horse win.

“To have a winner for Charles and Camilla and to keep that dream alive was incredible, and what a race — asides all of that, what a race,” she said.