The occasion was the opening ceremony of the 1958 British Empire & Commonwealth Games in the Welsh capital. The main sporting arena for the Games was the home of Cardiff RFC and the Welsh national rugby team.
Cardiff welcomed 35 nations and 1,122 athletes to compete between 18-26 July and the opening ceremony featured the first handing over of the message from the Queen at the end of a 600 relay that started at Buckingham Place.
The Queen’s Baton Relay began on 14 July with Roger Bannister, the first sub-four mile runners, who was joined by 1954 Commonwealth champions Chris Chataway and Peter Driver. The relay travelled through England and all 13 Welsh counties on its way to Cardiff, where it was due to be handed over the Duke of Edinburgh by a mystery runner.
A total of 664 athletes, including 32 schoolboys, were involved in the four day relay, and at 6.33pm the last runner entered the Arms Park. The name of the last runner had been kept secret, but it didn’t all go to plan.
The final legs of the relay took longer than expected and so the legendary Welsh rugby player and athlete, Ken Jones, was left waiting in the lounge at Cardiff rugby club sipping on half a shandy.
When the 36-year-old former Newport wing, owner of a record 44 Welsh caps and scorer of a then record 17 tries for his country, was given the all clear to run the final leg, one lap of the newly laid cinder track surrounding the pitch on which he had scored the match winning try against the 1953 All Blacks, he was sent the wrong way.
By the time he reached his destination, a meeting with the Duke of Edinburgh trackside, it was 6.33pm. “Where have you been,” asked the Duke of Edinburgh, “we’ve been waiting for you.”
Ken, resplendent in a red Welsh athletics – he had won an Olympic silver medal at the 1948 Games in London and then a bronze medal for Wales at the 1954 Commonwealth Games – handed over the Queen’s message to the Duke of Edinburgh, who then read it out to the crowd and athletes:
To all athletes assembled at Cardiff for the 6th British Empire and Commonwealth Games I send a warm welcome and my very best wishes. I am delighted that so many Commonwealth countries have sent teams to Wales for these Games. The number is larger than ever and more than three times as great as for the first meeting at Hamilton in 1930. This is welcome proof of the increasing value which is being placed today on physical strength and skill as an essential factor in the development of the whole man, healthy in mind and body. It also gives the greatest personal pleasure to know that so many members of the Commonwealth family are meeting in friendly rivalry and competition. I hope that many lasting friendships will grow from this great meeting of athletes and spectators, and that you will all go home with a better understanding of the value of our Commonwealth of nations. I am greatly looking forward to being with you at the end of next week.
The sixth British Empire & Commonwealth Games were then declared open.
The Welsh Rugby Union offer the sincere condolences of the Welsh rugby family to its former Patron, The Queen, for the loss of her husband, and to our current Patron, Prince William, for the loss of his grandfather.
