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Also in attendance at the opening ceremony will be The Prince of Wales, The Duchess of Cornwall and The Earl and Countess of Wessex. The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall will visit a Commonwealth Games venue prior to the opening ceremony, while The Queen and Prince Philip will visit Commonwealth Games sites on Thursday 24th July.
Their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry will attend the Commonwealth Games on Monday 28th and Tuesday 29th July, while The Princess Royal, as Patron of Scottish Rugby Union, will attend the games on Saturday 26th July.
The first Commonwealth Games were held in Hamilton, Canada in 1930 where eleven countries sent 400 athletes to take part in six sports and 59 events. Since then, the games have been conducted every year (apart from 1942 and 1946 due to the Second World War) and has seen many changes in its tenure, not least in its name. From 1930 to 1950, the games were known as the British Empire Games, from 1954 until 1966 they were known as The British Empire and Commonwealth Games, while from 1970 to 1974 saw the games take the title of British Commonwealth Games. It was the 1978 games in Edmonton that saw the games take the name we know today.
The Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games are set to be one of the most memorable games ever taken place. 6,500 athletes and officials from 71 countries will compete in 17 sports over eleven days. From the precision of lawn bowls to the high adrenaline of track events and the grace and beauty of gymnastics, Glasgow will be the stage for a fantastic summer of sport, as well as a massive range of cultural events for everyone. This will be the third time that Scotland has hosted the Commonwealth Games and, as seen before, 2014 sees masses of public interest and support for the games.
It seems that the majority of the Royal Family will be at the Games at some point. On Thursday 24th and Friday 25th July the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester will be in attendance. As well as being present at the opening ceremony, the Earl and Countess of Wessex will attend events throughout the course of the two week games while the Earl, as Vice Patron of the Commonwealth Games Federation, will close the Games on Sunday 3rd August.
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