King Charles has issued a powerful message to mark Commonwealth Day, where he remarked that “diversity is our greatest strength”.

The King has currently paused all public-facing duties while he receives cancer treatment, and is not attending today’s Commonwealth Day Service.

As Head of the Commonwealth, the King has instead recorded a Commonwealth video message that will be broadcast during the service later today.

This year marks the 75th anniversary of the Commonwealth.

King Charles’s message will reflect the evolution of the Commonwealth since 1949.

The Commonwealth Day theme for 2024 is “One Resilient Common Future: Transforming our Commonwealth”.

The King’s message was filmed in the White Drawing Room at Windsor Castle last month.
The clock on His Majesty’s desk, which was shown alongside a silver inkstand, was a wedding gift to the late Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip

The oak sapling on the desk was grown from an acorn collected on the Home Park Windsor Estate during the King’s Coronation year.

In his speech, King Charles said: “The Commonwealth family is strongest when we are connected, through friendship. As I have said before, the Commonwealth is like the wiring of a house, and its people, our energy and our ideas are the current that runs through those wires.

“Together and individually, we are strengthened by sharing perspectives and experiences, and by offering and borrowing the myriad ways we have each tackled the challenges of our time.

“This is true both at the level of nations and, indeed, at the local level. We recognise today that our diversity is our greatest strength.”