Queen Elizabeth kicks off Commonwealth Games countdown
Britain's Queen Elizabeth has kicked off the countdown to next year's Commonwealth Games.
The monarch placed a special message inside the baton during the official ceremony outside Buckingham Palace yesterday (09.10.13), which she will read out at the opening ceremony for the Glasgow-based games in July 2014.
The baton will now travel for over 120,000 miles around every Commonwealth country the world before it reaches its Scottish destination next summer.
Lord Smith of Kelvin, the Glasgow 2014 chairman, told crowds at the Palace: 'Years of planning and preparations have gone into putting on the Games and we have now reached the moment when the countdown really begins.
'The baton is a tangible object. Thousands of people will carry it, and they will bring the Commonwealth to life in front of our eyes. As the journey unfolds, we will see a vast diversity of people, of landscapes and of cultures.'
Former track cyclist and renowned Olympian Sir Chris Hoy was chosen to carry to baton along The Mall to the Queen, accompanied by the Scots Guards and Royal Scots Borderers.
Once the Queen's message - which she penned during her annual break at Balmoral - was concealed inside, the 87-year-old royal passed it on to former sprinter Allan Wells and Unicef ambassador Monica Dzonzi.
As the duo made their way out of the Palace gates, a host of other bearers - who included athletes, volunteers and schoolchildren involved with the 20th annual games - took turns holding it as they circled around the Queen Victoria Memorial.
The symbolic trophy was then taken to London's Marlborough House before leaving for India today (10.10.13).
Britain's Queen Elizabeth has kicked off the countdown to next year's Commonwealth Games.
The monarch placed a special message inside the baton during the official ceremony outside Buckingham Palace yesterday (09.10.13), which she will read out at the opening ceremony for the Glasgow-based games in July 2014.
The baton will now travel for over 120,000 miles around every Commonwealth country the world before it reaches its Scottish destination next summer.
Lord Smith of Kelvin, the Glasgow 2014 chairman, told crowds at the Palace: 'Years of planning and preparations have gone into putting on the Games and we have now reached the moment when the countdown really begins.
'The baton is a tangible object. Thousands of people will carry it, and they will bring the Commonwealth to life in front of our eyes. As the journey unfolds, we will see a vast diversity of people, of landscapes and of cultures.'
Former track cyclist and renowned Olympian Sir Chris Hoy was chosen to carry to baton along The Mall to the Queen, accompanied by the Scots Guards and Royal Scots Borderers.
Once the Queen's message - which she penned during her annual break at Balmoral - was concealed inside, the 87-year-old royal passed it on to former sprinter Allan Wells and Unicef ambassador Monica Dzonzi.
As the duo made their way out of the Palace gates, a host of other bearers - who included athletes, volunteers and schoolchildren involved with the 20th annual games - took turns holding it as they circled around the Queen Victoria Memorial.
The symbolic trophy was then taken to London's Marlborough House before leaving for India today (10.10.13).
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