WHAT a day for York. Even a city with 2,000 years of history has never known anything quite like Royal Ascot week.

From today, the Queen and the Royal Family have made our home their home, the court relocating here for the first time since Charles I moved in.

More than 250,000 people are expected to join them at Knavesmire over the next five days for an event unsurpassed in grandeur, glamour and colour.

Royal Ascot offers something for everyone. Serious students of ground and form will be enthralled by the spectacular sport. Punters travelling here from all points of the compass will be in good company: York racegoers are said to be the most knowledgeable in Britain.

People watchers have a fantastic festival of their own, as they check out who is wearing what, who is wearing well, and who is on who's arm.

While Knavesmire becomes a city within a city, much of the rest of York will try to go about its daily business. Understandable concern has been expressed about whether we will be able to.

City leaders have been preparing for this event for two years. Every effort has been made to ensure York looks its magnificent best, and that the city runs smoothly. A huge amount of work has gone on behind the scenes, to which we ought to doff our hat, whether it be a topper, a fascinator or a baseball cap.

And the rewards of that labour are made clear tonight. Royal Ascot is set to bring an astonishing £50 million into York. As well as the thousands attending, millions more will be watching on television.

This is an unprecedented opportunity for York to enchant the world. If we get it right, a few days will benefit the city and its residents for many years.

The only losers are those who have fled the city for fear that their routine would be disturbed. To be here, now, as history is made; to have our routine disrupted in the most thrilling fashion; to be at the centre of the sporting universe; and to hobnob with royals, rascals, superstars and show-offs...

Who would want to be anywhere else?

Updated: 11:14 Tuesday, June 14, 2005