Cartier Polo at Windsor

Diane Kruger and Joshua Jackson

After weeks of rain the sun finally shone down upon the Guards Polo Club in Windsor for the annual Cartier International Day. And as usual, a host of celebrities and socialites turned out to cheer on the players.

Early in the day there were celebrations as the Prince of Wales’ team took the Golden Jubilee Trophy. Following this victory the crowds – including Jemima Kahn, Alexandra Spencer-Churchill, Sean Bean and Jamie Dornan – filtered into the Cartier tent where a lunch was created by famous chef Anton Mosimann. The tent was decorated by Nicky Haslam who made several outfit changes during the day.

After lunch the English team, led by Luke Tomlinson who fell in the fifth chukka, took on the Chilean team. They had been invited back to play in honor of their former captain, Gabriel Donoso, who died in a fall last year and whose brother José represented the country on Sunday. Watching and rooting for the English team in the stands were Sam Branson and his new girlfriend, Isabella Anstruther-Gough-Calthorpe. The pair wore matching cream and blue outfits.

Despite their vocal supporters, England lost to Chile by one goal after an exciting final chukka where they nearly drew even. Prince Michael of Kent presented the Coronation Cup to the Chilean team, while Pierce Brosnan and his wife, Keely Shaye Smith, looked on from the commentator’s box.

During tea all eyes were on the Hollywood faction present, who clustered around the same table. This group included ASW member Diane Kruger (looking chic in a purple dress, cinced with a black patent leather belt), her boyfriend Joshua Jackson, Bill Nighy, James Franco, and newcomer Alice Evans, who turned heads in her black bustier dress. Factory Girl star Jack Huston, who had just returned from filming in Spain, took the opportunity to chat with his uncle, Danny. Notable ASW members milling about were Jacobi Anstruther-Gough-Calthorpe, Marissa Montgomery, a dapper Matthew Mellon in pale pinstripes and Poppy Delevigne, looking even more ethereal than usual in a Grecian-inspired cream dress.

Elsewhere on the site, former members of boy band Blue, Duncan James and Simon Webbe, flocked to the Smyle/Kidd official players’ tent where Jodie Kidd greeted the guests dressed down in a Bob Marley t-shirt and jeans. In the same area, Sarah Harding of Girls Aloud spent most of her time gyrating in front of the decks, where her current boyfriend, Tom Crane, was DJing classic rock ‘n’ roll.

After the Shapeshifters played and the other parties died down, all the remaining revelers, including soccer phenomenon and ex-Calvin Klein model Freddie Ljungberg, abandoned their champagne bottles on the lawns and made a beeline for the Chinawhite tent that had hosted 1700 people for their own lunch and was gearing up for an even larger evening.

Alas, because of the disruption that was caused to the wildlife in the park last year, the parties had to be shut down at midnight and everyone moved off to nearby Ascot to continue to party into the early hours.

— Rebecca Guinness

Photo credits: © 2007 Nick Harvey, Getty Images