IT has been a closely guarded secret — but one that has been seen in public in 70 nations and territories over the past 288 days and carried by tens of thousands of people from sports stars to celebrities and charity workers to school kids.

I am of course talking about the Queen’s hand-written message to the Commonwealth sealed in the Queen’s Baton for its epic 190,000km journey through Asia, Oceania, Africa, North and South America and the Caribbean.

After returning to Scotland — and Inverclyde, pictured — it is now ready to take centrestage at tonight’s spectacular opening ceremony at Celtic Park.

Seven years of preparation and planning will finally be over when Her Majesty removes the message and reads it, declaring the start of what promises to be the most successful games ever.

Yesterday I had the pleasure of taking part in a ceremony in the Commonwealth Games Village to welcome the athletes from Inverclyde’s ‘second teams’ of Dominica, Mauritius and Niue.

There is a real sense of anticipation and excitement as thousands of athletes and officials arrive for 11 days of competition to be watched by hundreds of thousands more at the games venues. They will be joined by billions of people around the world as Glasgow takes centrestage of the sporting world. And Inverclyde will have its moment in the spotlight later this week when the Commonwealth Flotilla sets sail from Greenock.

Around 250 vessels — the biggest gathering of boats ever seen on the Clyde — will muster at the James Watt Dock before heading up river carrying the greetings and best wishes of all of us to the countries of the Commonwealth.

I would like to wish everyone taking part in the games — competitors, officials and volunteers — a hugely successful, enjoyable and memorable few weeks as they participate in a once-in-a-lifetime event.

To everyone from Inverclyde who is involved, I know you will be excellent ambassadors for us all and will champion Inverclyde as the very best in Scotland.

Tonight we will all see the fruition of years of hard work as the wraps finally come off the spectacular opening ceremony.

I don’t know the exact words the Queen will use but to paraphrase — ‘Let the Games begin!’