The Queen yesterday called for people who live in the Commonwealth to “celebrate an extraordinary cultural tapestry” of the “unique gathering of nations”.

Commonwealth treasures and respects this wealth of diversity

In her annual Commonwealth Day message the monarch described how its 54 member nations – home to nearly two billion people – have a “wealth of diversity”.

In her 2012 address, themed on “connecting cultures”, the Queen described how the Commonwealth provides a great “understanding” for cultural differences.

The Queen’s pre-recorded words formed part of the annual Observance of Commonwealth Day at Westminster Abbey yesterday afternoon attended by the Duke of Edinburgh, the Prince of Wales, the Duchess of Cornwall, the Countess of Wessex and a host of dignitaries.

“This year, our Commonwealth focus seeks to explore how we can share and strengthen the bond of Commonwealth citizenship we already enjoy by using our cultural connections to help bring us even closer together, as family and friends across the globe,” she said.

The Queen introduced a new song – titled Stronger As One – which was composed to complement the theme of her speech.

Commonwealth secretary general Kamalesh Sharma said in his Commonwealth Day message: “This is our opportunity to celebrate the rich cultural diversity of the Commonwealth and what this enrichment means to us as individuals. It is fitting, in the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee year, to pay tribute to the unique contribution that Her Majesty has made to promoting understanding and to strengthening links in the Commonwealth. The Queen as the head of the Commonwealth is the symbol of our unity and free association with each other.

People from a number of different Commonwealth countries have signed up to form part of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations in June. Organisers of the Big Jubilee Lunches, organised by the Eden Project charity, said that people from Malaysia, India, Australia, South Africa, Canada and New Zealand have signed up to join the festivities on June 3.

The project sees people getting together to share lunch with neighbours and friends in the form of a traditional street party or a picnic lunch in small or larger groups.

The Canadian High Commission held a Big Jubilee Lunch in Canada House on Trafalgar Square for Canadians who are living in the UK or just visiting London.

High Commissioner of Canada to the UK Gordon Campbell said: “Canadians have such a special relationship with the Royal Family, and Her Majesty in particular, and not just because we’re proud members of the Commonwealth, but because of the many ways the Queen and her family have touched our lives.”

The monarch’s message in full

Queen Elizabeth II after recording her Commonwealth Day radio message, at Buckingham Palace, London.

“One of the great benefits of today’s technology-based world is the range of opportunities it offers to understand and appreciate how others live: we can see, hear and enter into the experience of people in communities and circumstances far removed from our own.

A remarkable insight we gain from such windows on the world is that, however different outward appearances may be, we share a great deal in common.

Our circumstances and surroundings may vary enormously, for example in the food we eat and the clothes we wear, but we share one humanity, and this draws us all together. The joys of celebration and sympathy of sadness may be expressed differently but they are felt in the same way the world over. How we express our identities reveals both a rich diversity and many common threads. Through the creative genius of artists – whether they be writers, actors, film-makers, dancers or musicians – we can see both the range of our cultures and the elements of our shared humanity.

Connecting Cultures, our Commonwealth theme this year, encourages us to consider the special opportunities we have, as members of this unique gathering of nations, to celebrate an extraordinary cultural tapestry that reflects our many individual and collective identities. The Commonwealth treasures and respects this wealth of diversity.

Connecting cultures is more, however, than observing others and the ways in which they express themselves. This year, our Commonwealth focus seeks to explore how we can share and strengthen the bond of Commonwealth citizenship we already enjoy by using our cultural connections to help bring us even closer together, as family and friends across the globe.

To support this theme, a special song has been composed for the Commonwealth, Stronger as One. There are any number of ways in which that single piece of music alone can be played or sung anywhere in the Commonwealth. And by sharing the same music with our own personal interpretations and contributions, the wonderful human attribute of imagination is nourished, and we gain insights of understanding and appreciation of others.

The Commonwealth offers a pathway for this greater understanding and the opportunity to expand upon our shared experiences in a wider world. A world in which paths to mutual respect and common cause may also be explored and which can draw us together, stronger and better than before”.