Paul Tanfield . as Tony and Topper make an Ascot debut &amp;hellip; . the grandstand elite play one-upmanship . it was 6.55 yesterday morning when the Duke of Norfolk wandered across the green lawns of Ascot . the new &amp;pound;1,000,000 stand that he had watched rise , brick-by-brick , was clouded with rain . and the wind had littered the paddock with leaves . his grace ordered the leaves to be removed and the sweepers came out . he prodded the turf and announced that the going would be a little soft . but he looked hopefully at the sky and guessed that all would come well . lunch contest . all did . the weather decided to co-operate and Ascot 1961 opened in all its glory . the crazy costumes and ridiculous hats &amp;hellip; . the royal family driving up the course &amp;hellip; . Antony Armstrong-Jones making his Ascot debut ( he and Princess Margaret were on their honeymoon during the meeting last year ) . this year there are two sports at Ascot . there is the horse-racing - and there is the one-upmanship in the boxes of the new grandstand . butlers and waitresses join in the second game along with those who have taken the boxes . they vie with each other to produce the most impressive lunch . this is more difficult than it may seem , for the Ascot caterers provide all the food . so it is the same for everyone - from Charles Clore to the Maharanee of Baroda , from Lew Grade to Lord Cornwallis . pass the mustard . yesterday it was melon and smoked salmon and lobster or a cold collation ( pronounced coalition by at least half the waitresses I spoke to ) and strawberries and cream . then there were wines to order . most people had champagne - of course . Mrs John Valentine arrived from Sunbury-on-Thames clutching her cartwheel hat in one hand and a pot of mustard in the other . I always like my mustard made with sherry , she explained . she was n&apos;t going to risk having the watered kind . Hylton &apos;s wine . Jack Hylton brought his own wine . a few doors down the corridor someone had brought a lace tablecloth to replace the damask ones provided . John Topliss-Smith came with a laundry hamper containing crab - a present for his host . everyone seems to have lobster , he said , but really crab is much nicer . the laundry basket ? it &apos;s the done thing to carry food about in a hamper , is n&apos;t it ? and I did n&apos;t actually have another hamper . on went the one-upmanship . knowing something of the advantages of a good display , sales consultant Major Cyril Dennis had pink and white carnations sent down to Ascot to replace the sweet peas and cornflowers provided in each box . before anyone arrived in Charles Clore &apos;s box part of the flower display had disappeared borrowed for another box . there was some swift china-changing , too . someone slipped into Lord Moynihan &apos;s box and swapped a cracked plate for a sound one there . and since it was all regulation red and white Ascot crockery , no one could do much about it . George St John Ervine arrived bearing a silver cigarette box . an impressive touch , this . I was asked to bring it along , he told me blandly , to make the place seem a bit more like home . after all , when you come to Ascot you do n&apos;t want to feel you are picnicking , do you ? and of course the family is delighted . it was the happiest moment of royal Ascot . the Queen &apos;s three-year-old filly Aiming High had won the coronation stakes - her majesty &apos;s first Ascot success since 1959 . and the royal family , clearly delighted , went down to the unsaddling enclosure . all the more reason for celebration last night when the Queen gave her Ascot guests an evening out . they occupied the front two rows of Windsor &apos;s Theatre royal balcony to see the new musical of Jane Eyre . among the guests - that eligible bachelor Nicholas Eden , 30-year-old son of Sir Anthony . he sat next to Princess Alexandra . we&apos;re-all-human quote : during the interval the Queen was heard to ask : please tell me , someone , has this got a happy or a sad ending ? I quite forget . Paul Tanfield . Fabiola regrets &amp;hellip; but baby is still unofficial . the state visit off - for her state of health . it is not altogether surprising that the Belgian royal family so often seems to find itself at loggerheads with its subjects . even royal babies , usually a source of national rejoicing , seem to drive a wedge between King Baudouin and his people . there was that rumpus last week when the Pope let slip the news that Queen Fabiola is expecting a baby . but , despite the row , no official announcement followed . yesterday the baby was ( unofficially ) in the news again . King Baudouin and his queen postponed next month &apos;s state visit to London . but nobody was prepared to admit ( officially ) that the baby was the reason . the king &apos;s counsellors couched their communique in vague terms . it merely said : the queen &apos;s state of health and the care it requires led King Baudouin and Queen Fabiola to express the wish that the visit be postponed . not a word about the baby . I asked a Brussels palace spokesman if the queen &apos;s state of health meant what everybody knew it meant . no news . of course , he said , but we can not say so officially . we can only refer to the queen &apos;s state of health . the fact that the queen is expecting a baby will not be official until an official announcement has been made . even our own Queen did not mention the baby when she sent a telegram to King Baudouin . taking its tone presumably from Brussels , it said simply : I and my husband are so sorry that we shall not be able to welcome your majesties to London in July . we hope soon to hear good news of Queen Fabiola &apos;s health and send you both our best wishes . in Belgium last night , Queen Fabiola &apos;s subjects were hoping that they , too , might hear some good news about her health . well , some news , anyway &amp;hellip; . survival . Wilfred Noyce , mountaineer , writer and schoolmaster , who was in Sir John Hunt &apos;s Everest expedition in 1953 , is giving up his job as an assistant master at Charterhouse , the Surrey public school , to concentrate on writing . his book south col described the successful assault on Everest , and now , I understand , Heinemann will soon be publishing his latest mountaineering book . it deals with the Anglo-American Karakoram expedition which he led last year . the new life looks promising for Mr Noyce . his wife , Rosemary , told me that Heinemann have also asked him to write a book on survival - he published an article on the survivors of the Agadir earthquake in French Morocco last year - and Nelson have commissioned him to edit an atlas of the world &apos;s mountain ranges . another book , on survival in concentration camps , may follow later . altogether , it looks as if the ex-schoolmaster will have no difficulty in surviving himself . take your pick , says Stokowski . that former fire-eating conductor Leopold Stokowski is a mellowed man these days . in fact , when I talked to him yesterday after his rehearsals for Sunday &apos;s concert with the Philharmonia orchestra , he told me of his remarkable experiment in orchestral democracy . time was when this great disciplinarian of the rostrum - as fierce as Toscanini in a rage - had his own starch-like ideas about orchestral positioning . but this week he is allowing the Philharmonia players to decide for themselves where they sit . we try my way and then their way , said Stokowski . then they will vote on it . if they decide that their way will give a better concert I shall just say . O.K - let &apos;s have the good concert . he shook his white head and insisted : but you know , on matters of intonation and the technicalities I am still more than a martinet - I &apos;m a martinetissimo ! London-born Stokowski , now 79 , has a reputation for highly individual interpretations . but he is quite prepared , these days , to be hissed by those who do n&apos;t approve . as he says : if a man accepts applause when people like what he does he should be man enough to accept hissing from people who do n&apos;t like it . Ascot envy . they already have the Kentucky Derby . now the Americans would like to imitate inimitable Ascot . Mrs Evelyn Sharp , widow , hotel owner , and millionairess , is here on behalf of the New York State racing commission to investigate the subtleties of this distinctly British occasion . we have our stylish races in America , of course , she told me . but Ascot has an image of its own . we think of it as something special . the fashions , the parties &amp;hellip; everything . the Duke of Kent hires a honeymoon plane . complete with hot and cold running music &amp;hellip; . the Duke of Kent is going on the second stage of his honeymoon , to Majorca , in a &amp;pound;420,000 aircraft known as the Rolls-Royce of the air , which he has chartered through Hughie ( double your money ) Green . the plane is a demonstration model of the 350-m.p.h Grumman Gulfstream , the executive aircraft which has already been bought by such connoisseurs of luxury travel as Greek shipping millionaire Stavros Niarchos and Fiat millionaire Umberto Agnelli . the Duke &apos;s plane , n358aa , is the one in which Mr Green , trying to quadruple his money through his partnership in an aircraft distributing firm , flew the Atlantic earlier this year . it has since been on a 70,000-mile tour of 25 countries in Europe , the middle east and Africa , during which it was flown by King Hussein of Jordan . snacks &amp;hellip; . the Duke and his new Duchess will travel in comfort . the 24 ft passenger cabin is fitted with a thick royal blue carpet . it has seating for 12 - in cosily-padded swivel armchairs . the plane has hot and cold running water , a galley where snacks and hot drinks can be whipped up , a roomy wardrobe , and a handsome cocktail cabinet . and , en route , the couple will be able to enjoy the strains of I &apos;d do anything for you , dear , anything , and music from other current London musicals . &amp;hellip; and stereo . Arthur Willcox , spokesman for the firm which makes the plane told me : the plane has a built-in stereo tape-recorder which can play for the whole four hours it will take to fly to Majorca . we are recording hits from the London shows on it . we understand the Duke likes them . I understand it was air Commodore Sir Edward Fielden , Captain of the Queen &apos;s flight , who recommended the aircraft to the Duke after seeing it at the Paris air show . this plane is purely a demonstration model , said Mr Willcox . we do n&apos;t normally do charters . but we are naturally honoured that the Duke should have chosen our plane and happy to oblige him . the Duke and Duchess are expected to fly from Birkhall in Scotland , where they have spent the first part of their honeymoon , to London on Sunday . it is likely that they will take off for Majorca on Monday . American pilot . the Grumman , an American plane with 24 p.c British components , will be flown by an American , Captain Mike Guididas , who is the Atlantic aviation corporation &apos;s senior pilot . bitter fight . Prince William of Gloucester , apparently the only member of the royal family allowed to travel abroad without an escort , spurned even V.I.P treatment at Southend Airport yesterday . he was off to Calais with a friend , Nicholas Tollemache , son of Lord Tollemache , and a new car , a Sunbeam Rapier convertible . but when the airport commandant , Bernard Collins , invited him into the special lounge - cool , quiet and empty - the Prince turned him down and went to fight for a ham sandwich and a half of bitter in the bar . he had to wait five minutes before being served . afterwards , drinking his bitter , he explained that he would be away for about a month or six weeks . we are going to Paris for a few days , he said . then making for Greece via Yugoslavia . we have n&apos;t booked up anywhere . we shall just go where the mood takes us . today &apos;s the day for Bacall . Lauren Bacall , widow of Humphrey Bogart , is to marry in Vienna today - providing some missing documents arrive in time from America . she and her fiance , actor Jason Robards , had planned a secret wedding yesterday . 