WITH THE PRINCE OF WALES AND THE DUCHESS OF CORNWALL THE COMMONWEALTH GAMES GET UNDER WAY WITH STAR-STUDDED AND SPECTACULAR CELEBRATIONS IN BIRMINGHAM

‘The Games remind us of our connection with one another, wherever we may be, as part of the family of nations’
The Queen

It is the biggest sporting event to take place in the UK since London 2012 and the Commonwealth Games opened in suitably spectacular style in Birmingham.

With dazzling fireworks, a set from Duran Duran, a roll call of sporting greats and a giant mechanical bull, the show put Britain’s second city firmly in the floodlights.

While the Glasgow Games in 2014 were opened by the Queen, this time the Prince of Wales represented Her Majesty, reading out the message she had placed inside the Commonwealth Games baton before it departed from Buckingham Palace