His Majesty The King, Patron of the Royal Commonwealth Society and of Commonwealth Sport, officially launched the inaugural King’s Baton Relay for the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games at Buckingham Palace on Commonwealth Day, Monday 10 March 2025. His Majesty placed His Message to the Commonwealth into the first Baton, passing it to the first Batonbearer, Sir Chris Hoy, and starting the relay with 500 days to go to the Opening Ceremony of Glasgow 2026.
The King met the first four Batonbearers; Sir Chris Hoy, Keiran Healy, Royal Commonwealth Society Volunteer, instrumental in the setup of the Commonwealth Clean Oceans Plastics project, Sammi Kinghorn MBE, Paralympic and Commonwealth medal-winning T53 wheelchair racer from Scotland, and Gabriella Wood, Olympic and Commonwealth Judoka from Trinidad and Tobago.
Commenting on his role in event, Keiran shared:
“It was an incredible honour to be selected by the Royal Commonwealth Society to be the second Baton Bearer and be able to highlight the role of the Commonwealth Clean Oceans Campaign to His Majesty The King as part of the launch of the Glasgow 2026 Baton Relay. As we’ve worked to set the project up alongside Commonwealth Sport, it’s been an amazing opportunity to engage and meet with such a range of incredible organisations working tirelessly across the Commonwealth to help prevent plastic pollution into Commonwealth waterways”
Sarah Adlington, two-time Commonwealth gold medal-winning Judoka from Scotland, and Kadeena Cox, Paralympic gold medal-winner in T38 400m from England, also took part in the event as Message bearer and Baton holder. As the first Batonbearer, Sir Chris Hoy walked through the Quadrangle of Buckingham Palace to the Centre Arch with a pathway lined by Pipers from the Shree Muktajeevan Swamibapa Pipe Band.
For the first King’s Baton Relay, there is a new exciting focus on sustainability and environmentalism. Commonwealth Sport is partnering with the Royal Commonwealth Society (RCS) to deliver the Commonwealth Clean Oceans Plastics Campaign – bringing much-needed attention to both ongoing ocean conservation efforts and interesting new solutions to plastic waste. The programme aim is for athletes and communities to come together to prevent one million pieces of plastic from entering Commonwealth waters and spark lasting change in how we view plastic pollution, with this global relay of plastic clean-ups journeying through every Commonwealth nation and territory as part of The King’s Baton Relay.
Royal Commonwealth Society Executive Chair Dr Linda Yueh CBE said, “The United Nations has identified plastic as the most harmful form of ocean pollution, with the Commonwealth being disproportionately affected due to nearly half of its members being Small Island Developing States. This highlights the importance of the Commonwealth Clean Oceans Plastics Campaign, which, in partnership with Commonwealth Sport, aims to prevent plastic waste from entering waterways and contribute to achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 14, ‘Life below Water.’ We’re excited to collaborate with athletes, youth, conservation groups, and communities across the Commonwealth to address not only plastic pollution today but also foster long-term behavioural change. With His Majesty The King’s long-standing commitment to the environment, we are proud that The King’s Baton Relay will feature this sustainability initiative.”
The King’s Baton Relay for Glasgow 2026 is a reimagined Relay for a new era. For the first time ever, each of the 74 Commonwealth nations and territories will receive their own Baton, proudly crafted in Glasgow, to allow each country to decorate their batons to showcase their own culture, creativity and vision. Batons can be painted, carved, or crafted – by artists, athletes or schools – and as simple or sophisticated as they choose. The distribution of Batons means there will be no formal Baton handovers or costly or polluting travel and transit between nations and territories. Each nation and territory is encouraged to create opportunities for local people and places to celebrate and get involved, showcasing the uniqueness of different locations and taking a piece of Glasgow to the world.
Thanks to this innovative format, the 18th official Baton Relay will be the longest-ever relay for a Commonwealth Games, with the CGAs in the 74 nations and territories each having up to six days to organise their series of activities – more time to celebrate the Baton than ever before.
The Caribbean will be the first Commonwealth region destination for the King’s Baton Relay, with Trinidad and Tobago. The Caribbean part of the Baton Relay will culminate in St Vincent and the Grenadines on Saturday 14 June, before the Relay moves to Africa (15 June to 24 October), then Asia (25 October to 21 December), Oceania (2 January to 26 March 2026), Americas (27 March to 6 May 2026), and Europe (8 May to 23 July 2026).
The King’s Baton Relay will culminate at the Opening Ceremony of Glasgow 2026 on 23 July 2026, a traditional and fundamental part of the Commonwealth Games. As part of the reimagined Relay, all 74 batons will be reunited, and His Majesty's call to the athletes of the Commonwealth to come together in friendly competition will be read aloud by The King to mark the official start of the Commonwealth Games.
Full schedule of The King’s Baton Relay Caribbean route:
Trinidad and Tobago | Tuesday 11 March to Sunday 16 March |
St Kitts & Nevis | Monday 17 March to Saturday 22 March |
St Lucia | Sunday 23 March to Friday 28 March |
Barbados | Saturday 29 March to Thursday 3 April |
Grenada Olympic Committee | Friday 4 April to Wednesday 9 April |
Dominica | Thursday 10 April to Tuesday 15 April |
Antigua & Barbuda | Tuesday 22 April to Sunday 27 April |
Montserrat | Sunday 4 May to Friday 9 May |
Anguilla | Saturday 10 May to Thursday 15 May |
British Virgin Islands | Friday 16 May to Wednesday 21 May |
Jamaica | Thursday 22 May to Tuesday 27 May |
Cayman Islands | Wednesday 28 May to Monday 2 June |
Turks & Caicos | Tuesday 3 June to Sunday 8 June |
St Vincent & The Grenadines | Monday 9 June to Saturday 14 June |
Find out more about the Commonwealth Clean Oceans Plastics Campaign – including how you can get involved and host your own plastic clean-up as part of the campaign by emailing the team on cwcleanoceans@ROYALCWSOCIETY.ORG.