Ladies dressed elegantly in floral frocks, and on the arms of gentlemen spruced up in cravats and Panama hats, were welcome: Daves and Tracys from Dagenham emblazoned with tattoos and chunky jewellery under Burberry baseball caps were not.

But despite the Earl of March and Kinrara’s wishes, a chav or two did escape the style-police at yesterday’s opening of Glorious Goodwood.

The earl, heir to the Goodwood estate, had said he feared that this most English of meets was going the way of other racecourses “whose patrons dress as though they’re going to a nightclub”.

“I won’t be asking that visitors wear morning coats but I would like to see the ladies in nice traditional English summer frocks, with linen suits and Panama hats for the gentlemen,” he is reported to have said. “We have far too many chavs, I’m afraid. Perhaps we’ll have to have some spare jackets.”

Yesterday at the Sussex estate, the home of the Dukes of Richmond since 1697 and where the rules of cricket were devised, the earl was rewarded with a handsome turnout of the champagne-sipping aristocracy.

The sharp-eyed would nevertheless have spotted tattoos, chunky chains and the odd pair of sunglasses that were certainly not Gucci.

Falling attendance figures at Royal Ascot, that other racing meet of the society set, has already been blamed on the WAG-culture and drunken behaviour by those glugging, rather than sipping, the champagne.

The five-day festival at Goodwood, which is expected to be attended by up to one million people, already has one of the most formal dress codes, having banned jeans and shorts.

Ladies in its Richmond enclosure are encouraged to wear hats, while gentlemen are required to dress in jackets and ties, cravats or polo-neck sweaters. The official dress-code states: “Linen suits and the archetypal Goodwood Panama hat are traditionally worn by gentlemen as characterised by Edward VII in the early 20th century.” Informal dress is tolerated although the sight of muffin-midriffs wobbling over low-slung waistbands will result in ejection, according to organisers.

The Queen has not attended Goodwood so regularly in recent years. She used to alternate between staying at Goodwood House, home of the Duke of Richmond, one year and Arundel Castle, the Duke of Norfolk's home, the next.

The 10th Duke of Richmond, the earl’s father, has taken a backseat in the running of what is one of the most sporting estates in the country. It boasts the Festival of Speed in the park, an airfield with flying school, a golf course, a cricket pitch as well as one of the best pheasant shoots in the South of England.

The earl was unavailable last night but a spokeswoman for Goodwood said: “I can’t imagine the earl ever using the word chav or that he would even know what the word meant.

“We are far too busy to verify what the earl may or may not have said.”

She added however: “It has always been about effortless chic at Goodwood, and coupled with some of the best horse racing, in Europe, it really is the place to be and be seen.”

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