So today we said goodbye, for now, to family gathered here for the past few days. We popped in to the city centre; plenty of celebrating here in Ripon to mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. We attended the first of many events - a concert in the market Square - absolutely packed with young and old, families & friends, having a great time together. How brilliant is that!
The Queen is Head of the Commonwealth. Amazingly, the Commonwealth;
54 independent countries both advanced economies and developing countries
32 small states usually with a population under 1.5 million
25 small island developing states
Combined population 2.5 billion
More than 60 per cent of population aged 29 or under
1 in 3 young people aged between 15 and 29 live in Commonwealth countries (about 640 million out of 1.8 billion).
Half of the top 20 global emerging cities are in the Commonwealth.

In 1971, the Declaration of Commonwealth Principles were released.
The principles said that we should support international peace and understanding, have equal rights for all citizens and remove poverty, ignorance and disease.