The 2026 Commonwealth Games opened on Thursday evening with a ceremony at Glasgow's Hydro, featuring a parade of athletes from 74 nations and a performance by actor Sam Heughan.
Ceremony highlights
Chris Hoy introduced the event with a skit, leading the King and Queen out of a tardis into a garden trimmed into a Saltire. The ceremony included a Dr Who-themed segment searching for the royals at Balmoral.
Sam Heughan performed as Nessie was revealed on stage. The orchestra played Flower of Scotland during the walk-in.
Athletes parade
Nations entered in alphabetical order, starting with African countries. Botswana led, followed by Cameroon in national dress, Eswatini in varsity jackets, and Gabon with four athletes. Kenya wore bright red trackies, Lesotho sported tartan flat caps, and Malawi opted for red blazers.
From the Americas, Bahamas wore cyan hoodies, followed by Belize, Bermuda, Canada, Falklands, Guyana, and St Helena. Caribbean nations included Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, Montserrat, St Kitts & Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent & The Grenadines, Trinidad & Tobago, and Turks & Caicos.
Asian nations included Bangladesh, Brunei Darussalam, India, Malaysia, Maldives, Pakistan (with flagbearer Arshad Nadeem), Singapore, and Sri Lanka.
European entries began with Cyprus, England (flagbearer Sian Honnor, baton bearer Luke Greenbank), Gibraltar, Guernsey, Isle of Man, Jersey, Malta, Northern Ireland, Scotland (led by Alex Marshall), and Wales.
Oceania nations included Australia, Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, New Zealand, Niue, Norfolk Island, Samoa (who performed a haka), Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu.
Scaling back
The Games were originally scheduled for Victoria, Australia, but the state government pulled out due to cost increases. The Gold Coast also withdrew as replacement. Glasgow hosts a scaled-back edition with 10 events instead of 19, integrating para and able-bodied sport.
