Racing with the royals: The Aussies rubbing shoulders with the King at Ascot

It’s a long way from Warrnambool to Windsor Castle, but leading Australian trainer Ciaron Maher found himself at the top of the British society pile at Royal Ascot over the weekend.

An Australian horse may not have won at Ascot this year, but Aussie racing identities were rubbing shoulders with King Charles at the annual intersection of British high society and racing.

Maher and his mother, Eileen Maher, joined the King and Queen Camilla for lunch at Windsor Castle on the fourth day of the Royal Ascot carnival.

A dapper Maher was clad in a morning suit, salmon waistcoat and a top hat – a far cry from the wild locks and puffer jackets he once used to famously sport at the track. After lunch, he and his mum entered Ascot racecourse in a horse-drawn carriage as part of the King’s royal procession.

Among the other lunch guests included in the royal procession that day was musical theatre composer and impresario Andrew Lloyd Webber, he of Cats, Phantom of the Opera and Jesus Christ Superstar fame.

CBD caught up with Maher and Eileen on Sunday as they were on their way to Saint-Tropez. Both were still marvelling over their royal lunch and day at the races.

“The whole journey has been quite surreal,” Maher said.

“That was one of the best days and to be able to do it with mum was unbelievable. He (King Charles) is so approachable. I just have so much respect for him.

“When we got there (to Windsor Castle) we had a look at the seating plan, and my mother’s sitting next to the King for lunch, and I said to mum, ‘I hope you’ve got plenty of conversation ready’ and she said, ‘don’t worry.’”

Eileen told CBD sitting next to the King was an honour and a “rare opportunity.”

“Never ever in my life could I have ever thought anything like that would have happened,” Eileen said.

“Now to feel what it was like and how enormous it was, is something I will think of forever.”

Maher and his partner Alice received the invitation from the King and Queen about six weeks ago. Alice opted not to travel to London as she is expecting the couple’s second child in early September, so Eileen stepped in.

Maher went viral in racing circles when footage of him and Eileen following the King’s carriage down the Ascot straight appeared online, but the Melbourne Cup-winning trainer has been in the royal orbit for about two years now.

He briefly met the King in 2024 when he was asked to go to England to discuss training one of the royal racehorses, and soon after had the King’s horse Gilded Water among his charges in Australia.

When Charles and Camilla were in Australia later that year, Maher was invited to Canberra to one of their receptions. Then there was a phone call with the King to talk racing.

During the 2025 Ascot carnival, Maher was invited into the royal box to have “a quick chat” to the King and Queen.

Later that year he tried to win the Geelong Cup with Gilded Water for the King, who spent time at school in Geelong in 1966. Gilded Water ran a close second.

This year, Maher received the sort of invitation that can’t be topped – lunch, a carriage ride and a day in the royal box. What’s next … a knighthood?

Actually, what might be next is getting the King a Melbourne Cup runner – the race is very much on the royal couple’s radar.

“They would dearly love to win a Melbourne Cup so they can come back to Australia to watch it,” Maher said.

Not surprisingly, Maher is setting Gilded Water for a Cup campaign this year.

Maher was not the only Melbourne racing identity to lunch with the senior royals.

Victoria Racing Club chairman Neil Wilson and his wife, Stephanie, were guests of the King on the final day of Ascot, looking elegant as they arrived at the course via carriage in the royal procession.

MP’s reality TV plot twist

It was a bit of a surprise to see state lower house MP Wayne Farnham, the Liberal member for Narracan, east of Melbourne, urging in parliament last week that people watch a dating show on Channel Seven.

Despite having a long-running dislike for reality TV, Farnham now has a very personal reason to be spruiking Farmer Wants a Wife – a sort of MAFS-lite offering in which a handful of love-lorn farmers are matched with singles keen to mingle and see sparks fly.

His sudden interest in the show was because his daughter Gabbie is one of the single women taking part in the reality romp this season. Gabbie, a Gippsland-based marketing manager, was paired with farmer Alex, 28, a beef and mushroom farmer from Queensland who writes poetry.

Gippsland and mushrooms … what a match! We won’t go down that path.

Farnham’s callout to his parliamentary colleagues to watch the show even made it into Hansard, the official report of the proceedings and exchanges in parliament.

“I hate reality television – I cannot stand it – but I am going to set the rumours straight,” Farnham, no relation to singer John, was recorded saying. “Gabbie, who is on Farmer Wants a Wife, is, in fact, my daughter, so you can all tune in and you can find out what happens.

“I am not going to give it [the outcome of the show] away. Gabbie is a great, great girl. Anyone would be lucky to have my daughter. They are only human, we have to admit that, but she is a cracking girl. Go, Gabs, all the best.”

When contacted by CBD, Farnham confirmed he had not made, and would not be making, a cameo on the show, which was filmed months ago. He said he was fully supportive of his daughter’s decision to give reality TV a go.

“When she originally told me she was going on, I said, ‘Gabbie, that’s great. Have fun, just be nice, just be yourself,’” Farnham said.

CBD has often thought that politics has a bit in common with reality TV, just more like Survivor than Farmer Wants a Wife.

Andy Lee’s hidden Farnsy talent

While on the subject of Farnhams, the concert celebrating Australian music great John Farnham’s extraordinary career seems to be getting bigger and bigger.

Eddie McGuire, on his new radio offering, The Long Weekend, confidently asserted that Robbie Williams would soon be announced as joining the long list of performers involved in the concert, to be held in Melbourne on September 20.

There is speculation Chris Martin of Coldplay has also been approached to contribute in some way. In the event both stars are confirmed, they are likely to join the list of those beaming in via video, such as the already announced Celine Dion and Hugh Jackman.

But if they need an extra backing singer for the show, someone should give comedian Andy Lee a call. Lee showed a hitherto unknown ability behind the microphone, going for gold when he joined singer Michael Paynter for a rendition of Farnham’s hit You’re the Voice at the Challenge Cancer Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend charity dinner at Crown on Thursday.

Lee co-hosted the night, which was attended by about 1400 women, alongside model and former rugby league player Kris Smith.

He surprised Paynter, who will play Farnham in the Whispering Jack stage show for the Sydney Theatre Company later this year, when he appeared on stage singing along to the chorus and then shocked just about everyone in the room by hitting and holding some pretty impressive notes as a sequins-and-heels mosh pit evolved in front of the stage.

Spotted by CBD at the event were cosmetics queen Alex Fevola and her daughter Lulu, celebrant and former MAFS star Lucinda Light and Adrianne Sarkozy, partnership manager of concussion management technology company HIT IQ.