The Right Honourable The Lord Howell of Guildford PC, as President of the RCS, addressed assembled guests, who included more than 40 High Commissioners representing every region of the Commonwealth.

Lord Howell described the Commonwealth as “a network of global trust, the like of which exists nowhere else…We are a family in the truest sense – not just a superficial layer of officialdom and formal inter-governmental relations.”

“The information revolution”, he said, “has given the countless arteries of the Commonwealth a veritable blood transfusion where other more top-heavy, over centralised institutions, are struggling and withering”.

The Royal Commonwealth Society organises the High Commissioners’ Banquet as part of Commonwealth Week celebrations taking place between 7th and 14th March. Commonwealth Week is an opportunity to celebrate the rich diversity of the modern Commonwealth, to promote international cooperation and understanding on global issues and to foster a greater understanding of the Commonwealth’s role, particularly among young people.