Special delivery! The King hands Sir Chris Hoy the Commonwealth Games baton as cycling legend proclaims Glasgow 2026 could ‘inspire’ a nation

Sir Chris Hoy has backed Glasgow 2026 to ‘inspire’ the nation after joining The King to officially start the countdown to the Commonwealth Games on Monday.

Charles handed a wooden baton to the six-time Olympic champion to launch the King’s Baton Relay at Buckingham Palace to mark 500 days to go before the sporting event begins.

Glasgow was announced as the Games host for the second time last year after the original host, the Australian state of Victoria, was forced to withdraw.

Sir Chris revealed he was suffering from terminal prostate cancer last year and there have been calls to honour him at the Games.

Speaking about the event afterwards, the 48-year-old Scot said: ‘It’s pretty special – I wanted to slow it down and not rush it too much.

‘It’s a very kind of private and intimate ceremony, almost – there’s not thousands of people here, but it feels very special to be part of it and wonderful that we are in this 500 days to go with such a fantastic celebration.’

Sir Chris said Glasgow hosting the Games for a second time was ‘fantastic for Scotland’, adding: ‘I think it’s showing that Scotland can and does put on world class events in sport, and it only inspires us.’

Guests in the palace’s Marble Hall included the first four baton bearers for the Games: Sir Chris, Scottish Paralympic and Commonwealth wheelchair racer Sammi Kinghorn, Royal Commonwealth Society volunteer Keiran Healy, and Gabriella Wood, an Olympic and Commonwealth judo athlete from Trinidad and Tobago.

British Paralympian Kadeena Cox and judo competitor Sarah Adlington then presented Charles with the baton and his message for the Commonwealth Games, with the latter tied in a red ribbon.

Charles placed the message into the baton, where it will remain until it is opened and read out at the opening ceremony.

Sir Chris, who won Commonwealth gold medals in 2002 and 2006, was handed the baton by Charles before walking through the palace’s Quadrangle with a guard of honour provided by pipers wearing kilts.

Ms Kinghorn, Mr Healy and Ms Wood were each then handed the baton in turn before it left the palace grounds. The King’s Baton Relay will begin in Trinidad and Tobago.

The baton is comprised of three interlocking pieces of sustainability sourced ash, a Scottish hardwood, and was inspired by the three Commonwealth Games values of humanity, equality and destiny.

For the first time, each of the 74 nations and territories participating in the Games will have their own uniquely designed batons with a different word from the King’s message engraved on them.

First Minister John Swinney, who was also in attendance, said: ‘There’s a lot of enthusiasm, a lot of warmth towards the Commonwealth Games.

‘Of course, what we’ve had to do this time, we’ve stepped in very late in the preparations, when the Games were not going to be held in Australia, and we’ve provided the replacement venue, so the Games will be different.

‘They’ll give a different size and a different scale, but the reimagining of the Games is part of, I suppose, what Glasgow has been really good at. 

‘Glasgow has been a centre of invention in all of its history.’

Charles attended the annual Commonwealth Day Service of Celebration at Westminster Abbey earlier on Monday alongside the Queen, the Prince and Princess of Wales, the Princess Royal and the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester.

The King and Camilla will also attend a Commonwealth Day Reception at Marlborough House on Monday evening, where the inaugural Commonwealth Peace Prize will be awarded.

The Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games will take place from July 23 to August 2 next year.