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Commonwealth Day: Queen calls for inclusiveness | |
(about 1 hour later) | |
The Queen has called for people of the Commonwealth to "support those in need", as she attended a Westminster Abbey service on Commonwealth Day. | |
In the programme for the service, she wrote that people should help those who "feel excluded in all walks of life". | |
Former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan told the congregation the Queen had shown "steadfast devotion". | |
The Duke of Edinburgh, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry also attended the annual event. | |
Singer Ellie Goulding performed Sting's song Fields of Gold at the abbey. | |
Other guests at the multi-faith service included outgoing Commonwealth Secretary General Kamalesh Sharma, Joseph Muscat - the Prime Minister of Malta, which hosted the last Commonwealth heads of government meeting - and high commissioners from the association's 53 member nations. | |
In the evening, the Queen and Prince Philip will attend a reception hosted by Mr Sharma at Marlborough House, the home of the Commonwealth Secretariat, near Buckingham Palace. | In the evening, the Queen and Prince Philip will attend a reception hosted by Mr Sharma at Marlborough House, the home of the Commonwealth Secretariat, near Buckingham Palace. |
BBC iWonder - What is the point of the Commonwealth today? | BBC iWonder - What is the point of the Commonwealth today? |
Profile: The Commonwealth | Profile: The Commonwealth |
The Queen is the head of the Commonwealth, and her annual message to the association addressed its 2016 theme - "an inclusive Commonwealth". | |
In the programme, she wrote that an essential ingredient of belonging to the Commonwealth was a "willingness to share, to exchange and to act for the common good". | In the programme, she wrote that an essential ingredient of belonging to the Commonwealth was a "willingness to share, to exchange and to act for the common good". |
"By including others, drawing on collective insights, knowledge and resources, and thinking and working together, we lay the foundations of a harmonious and progressive society," she wrote. | |
Mr Annan told the congregation: "Today the Commonwealth stands as a confident, modern, multicultural and proudly inclusive organisation." | |
He said the Queen had shown "unwavering and steadfast devotion" to the Commonwealth, adding: "We are greatly honoured and deeply grateful for your extraordinary commitment to its people." | |
The Commonwealth, a loose association of former British colonies and current dependencies, along with some countries with no historical ties to Britain, represents 2.3 billion people, of which 60% are aged under 30. | |
Members include Australia, Canada, Cyprus, Fiji, Ghana, Grenada, India, Jamaica, Malaysia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, Singapore and South Africa. | Members include Australia, Canada, Cyprus, Fiji, Ghana, Grenada, India, Jamaica, Malaysia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, Singapore and South Africa. |
In his Commonwealth Day message, Mr Sharma, from India, said: "Globalisation, the digital revolution and interdependence make us both a rapidly compacting but also colliding world. | |
"The strengths of the Commonwealth were never needed more to assert fairness in global outcomes and trust in the richness of our human identities." | "The strengths of the Commonwealth were never needed more to assert fairness in global outcomes and trust in the richness of our human identities." |