Every four years, the Commonwealth Games bring together athletes from the 72 nations and territories that make up the political association, and in July 2022, they’re all converging on Birmingham, England. Before the 22nd Games get underway in 294 days, a baton relay will visit locations in all of the participating countries, covering more than 90,000 miles. On Thursday, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Edward were in attendance at a Buckingham Palace ceremony for the launch. The relay began when the queen passed the baton off to Kadeena Cox, a British para-cyclist and sprinter who won two gold medals at the Tokyo Paralympics in August.
“It was an absolute honor to participate in this once-in-a-lifetime event. Receiving the Queen’s Baton from Her Majesty The Queen was a moment I’ll keep with me for the rest of my life,” Cox said in a statement. “It’s so exciting to think that this Baton will now travel across the Commonwealth, where other inspirational individuals will become baton bearers in their own communities.”
The queen and Edward also met with the designers of the baton, which was first unveiled in Birmingham last week. On the Royal Family social media pages, the queen revealed that she actually placed a secret message inside of the baton, and it won’t be read until the games begin next year. They also shared that the high-tech baton, designed with LED lights, a heart rate monitor, and a 360-degree camera, was also constructed with a strand of platinum to honor the queen’s jubilee next year.
The queen is the patron of the Commonwealth Games Foundation, and Edward, its vice patron, has been involved since 1990, when he took over the job from Prince Philip. In 2018, he traveled without his wife, Sophie, Countess of Wessex, to the 21st Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast of Australia, where he was spotted watching a few hockey matches.
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