The Queen's Baton had spent the early part of the week in Gibraltar where swimmers carried it ashore.

It was taken along the coastline below the Rock by speedboat and was also carried along the Main Street, escorted by pipe major Tarik El-Yabani of the Gibraltar Sea Scouts Band.

Mayor Christian Santos welcomed members of the team to a reception where the Baton was carried in by Gibraltar Commonwealth Games Association President Harry Murphy.

Gibraltar first competed at the 1958 Games in Cardiff, the year the Queen's Baton was first introduced, though it has yet to win a medal.

"Even though you are representing different sports you are all collectively representing the flag of Gibraltar," Mayor Santos told the athletes.

The Baton had flown to Gibraltar from Canada where visits to the Canadian Sport Institute in Ontario and time at universities in Hamilton were part of the programme

It also seemed to inspire the Hamilton Tiger-Cats Canadian football team as they beat Montreal Alouettes 25-23 in a pre-season exhibition match on Tim Horton’s Field, which stands on the very site where the first Commonwealth Games were held in 1930.

A bid to bring the Games back to Hamilton in 2030 to mark 100 years since the event's first edition is in the works.

After the visit to London, the plan is to take the Baton to the Falkland Islands and then the Channel Islands before finally returning to the British Isles.

The Commonwealth Games themselves begin on July 28, with Birmingham's Alexander Stadium hosting the Opening Ceremony.