Queen’s Games message starts 123,000-mile trip
THE sending of the traditional holiday postcard to relatives and f riends can be a hassle at the best of times.
But when your extended family takes in many millions scattered around the globe, the task is even more daunting – especially when One’s postal service i s presently i n the process of being sold off.
Fortunately, the Queen has an alternative delivery system for her personal message to all the athletes competing in next year’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow – a series of runners who will carry it around the world.
Her Majesty penned the note, the exact content of which will not become known for another 248 days, while relaxing at Balmoral Castle on Deeside during the summer.
Indeed, it will remain secret until she reads it aloud at the opening ceremony at Celtic Park on July 23 next year.
Until then, the note has been placed inside a special baton and today it embarks on a relay journey round the 70 nations and territories taking part in the Games.
The baton was due to travel to 71 nations and territories in total, but part of the route is being redrawn following the Gambia’s decision not to participate in the Games.
At today’s ceremony at Buckingham Palace, the Queen will hand the baton to one of Scotland’s greatest sportsmen – Allan Wells, winner of two Commonwealth Golds and the 100m Olympic sprint title at the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games.
He said: ‘As the final runner of the Queen’s Baton Relay at t he l ast Commonwealth Games on Scottish soil in Edinburgh in 1986, the baton and what i t symbolises is incredibly special for me.’
Cyclist Sir Chris Hoy, a sixtime Gold Olympian and double Commonwealth Gold medallist, will escort the baton down The Mall to the ceremony, accompanied by pipers.
It is expected to cover about 123,000 miles.