The River Thames shines like chrome under the warm June sun, and wobbles under the rhythm of slicing oars. Applause rings through the crowds as two narrow boats jet forward like a pair of duelling sailfish. The rowers grunt like oxen as crowds cheer, clink their jugs of Pimm’s and munch strawberries with relish. Eton, Westminster, Harvard – every patrician spawning pool, from both ends of The Pond and from around the world, sends their prize tadpoles here to Henley on Thames. Anvil-jawed athletes, chinless wonders and debonair ladies purr and lounge along the banks of the river, relaxing and enjoying the Royal Henley Regatta, the pre-eminent event of the British summertime.

There is no event quite like the Royal Henley Regatta. Taking place on the River Thames and attended by an audience that resembles iterations of each character from Brideshead Revisited, it is harder to find an event that more wholly captures the elegant whimsy of a fantasy Britain from a bygone age. Henley Regatta’s evoking of that Britain of genteel country-living, Oxbridge dinners and Jane Austen romances, makes it an unmissable event for lovers of luxury and Anglophiles in general.

Founded in 1839 by the mayor of Henley on Thames, the Henley Regatta was initially a fair meant to attract visitors to the sleepy Oxfordshire town, the emphasis fast changed to the amateur rowing. In 1851 the event gained the patronage of Prince Albert, the husband and consort of that notorious dwarf Queen Victoria, thus making it a royal event. Royal Henley Regatta has been accruing prestige ever since, and has been held religiously every year apart from interludes in the world wars and a pandemic-related cancellation in 2020.

The main event is the rowing, and the Henley Regatta’s cups and competitors are diverse and numerous. The Grand Challenge Cup is the best known of these, being the original race from 1839. The trophy is currently held by the Wairiki Rowing Club from New Zealand, no doubt to the chagrin of historic British champions, most notably the local Leander Club. The event makes for excellent viewing, as teams of Herculean brutes propel their vehicles through the Thames like bodkin arrows. However, more heated competitions can be sought in the Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup, where star oarsmen from Britain’s sundry boarding-schools juke out their infamous rivalries. To a non-Brit much of this must seem arcane, but the festival atmosphere is more than worth it. Watching superb athletes hone their craft whilst slurping Pimm’s in the shade of wide-brimmed hat as the dandelion-filled breeze drifts by is, in fact, priceless.

There is plenty of food and drink available at the Royal Henley Regatta, and you will struggle to find anything which isn’t sumptuous or scrumptious. The statistics speak for themselves, with attendees consuming over one tonne of strawberries and salmon, 4500 bottles of champagne and 25,000 pints of Pimm’s. There are numerous hospitality tents, where you will have limitless drinks brought to white cloth tables whilst mingling with suave guests and popping sundry canapés into your mouth with all the loucheness of a Roman emperor. There are lawn games, river boat cruises, coffee, tea, cakes and scones, all making for an Edwardian-style afternoon of ebullience and civility.

There are strict dress codes for the event, which gives everyone a chance to indulge in some whacky aristocrat-vogue. Streaming over close-cropped grass is sea of straw boaters and garish blazers; pink, swish and more than a little foppish. For men, the dress code is ‘lounge suits, or jackets or blazers with flannels, together with a tie or cravat’ and for ladies the code is for a dress with ‘a hemline below the knee’, and hats for women are customary, though not obligatory.

There is an inherent joy attached to donning one’s straw hat and bombastic blazer, or trailing the long pleats of a dress like Cinderella. This attire will stay in handy for the celebrations after the races, the best of which is that held on Temple Island by Chinawhite, a prestigious rowing and polo club, whose club house has hosted such guests as Leonardo DiCaprio, Drake and Gigi Hadid.

The event is also sponsored by several luxury brands like Aston Martin and Bremont watches. Bremont’s special edition Henley watches are sleek and severe machines, uncompromisingly elegant. Any collector, fashionista or sharply dressed Regatta-watcher would be lucky to possess these triumphs of engineering. With a ‘stunning blue dial and polished HRR crest on the dial’ this watch is a for Henley Regatta members, making it all the more exclusive, valuable and alluring. Indeed, this is simply a must-have for horology buffs, and Bremont makes two further unique watches for race competitors and a separate watch for the winners. The synthesis between rowing, opulent culture and the art of watchmaking is stark at Henley, where rowers race against time, each athlete working as a cog, like the finely-tuned parts of a Bremont watch.

For connoisseurs of rowing and refinement alike the Royal Henley Regatta is an incomparable occasion. It is a sporting crucible, a dainty summer jamboree and an exhibition of British eccentricity and bucolic grandeur. Visit Henley Regatta and stake your flag into the heart of old fashioned British lavishness and fun: few people regret donning a rainbow coloured blazer and eating strawberries by the Thames.