King Charles and Queen Camilla arrive at the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony… in a TARDIS

Turns out Tunnock’s Tea Cakes are as Scottish as Nessie and Edinburgh Castle.

And if there was some confusion about the decision to have the King and Queen arrive in the TARDIS to open the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow tonight, everyone was going with the flow.

In fact, palace aides were keen to stress that there is a very good reason to single out the traveling time machine made famous by the BBC’s Doctor Who as an ‘icon of Scotland’: the long-running series has featured many Scottish ‘Doctors’ (namely Sylvester McCoy, David Tennant, Peter Capaldi and Ncuti Gatwa); It is based on a police box designed by Scottish architect Gilbert Mackenzie; Moreover, Glasgow has more surviving original UK police boxes than any other city.

Ah, for the real ‘Whovian’ nerds, the Doctor has a degree in medicine from the University of Glasgow (he also has a degree from the Prydonian Academy on Gallifrey, which has its own factory).

The three-and-a-half-minute film, shown at the start of the opening ceremony at the Hydro Arena, showed the TARDIS embarking on a journey around Scotland, operated by national treasure Sir Chris Hoy and Scottish actor Greg McHugh.

The pair were seen walking through Glasgow when the phone at one of the city’s iconic police boxes began ringing, prompting the men to answer.

There was a conversation with ‘the Palace’ about ways to rush Her Majesty from Balmoral, the Royal Family’s private home in Aberdeenshire, to Glasgow in time for the ceremony.

After debating which of them was authorized to ‘drive’, they stepped into the contraption and set off; apparently confusing the Seventh Doctor McCoy, who had parked it there.

The King looks out at the crowd after leaving the phone booth in Doctor Who

Charles and Camilla were then greeted by Scottish cyclist Sir Chris Hoy.

Before taking his seat, Charles met with Commonwealth Sport President Dr. He shook hands with Donald Rukare

The King and Queen were taken to the Royal Box, where they sat next to Andy Burnham.

Camilla and Burnham appeared to be in good spirits as the ceremony began at the OVO Hydro Arena

The newly installed Prime Minister even appeared to amuse Camilla with a joke

During a chaotic journey through time and space, the TARDIS materialized at a number of famous landmarks, including Loch Ness, Edinburgh Castle, the Kelpies at Falkirk, the University of Glasgow, the Victorian Glenfinnan Viaduct and the Jurassic Highlands, before eventually landing at Balmoral Castle.

Thanks to the wonders of technological wizardry, two figures briefly appeared from the shadows aboard the Time Machine.

To the sounds of the legendary Doctor Who soundtrack, the TARDIS was seen approaching the arena before the stage lit up and the King and Queen emerged with a cheerful wave.

Charles, wearing a navy blue suit and pink tie, was followed by Camilla, wearing a vibrant blue Anna Valentina jumpsuit.

The royal couple then walked across the stage with the kilt-clad Hoy and McHugh to cheers from the crowd before taking their seats next to Prime Minister Andy Burnham in the Royal Box. The former Manchester Mayor previously greeted the King with a bow when they met behind the scenes.

Meanwhile, Camilla and Burnham appeared in good spirits and were even filmed laughing as the ceremony began.

“Hopefully no travel sickness,” said one royal, referring to Queen Camilla’s known reluctance to fly at the best of times, let alone the spinning extraterrestrial Time Machine.

Charles and Camilla arrived in Glasgow earlier today and the King was preparing to read aloud a message he placed inside his Baton for March 2025 later tonight. Baton has since traveled to each of the 75 Commonwealth Countries for 500 days.

The royal couple appeared in good spirits ahead of Charles’ mission to officially launch the Commonwealth Games this evening

A number of political figures were seated alongside Charlies and Camilla in the Royal Lodge in Glasgow

Charles arrived in Glasgow earlier today and looked delighted when he arrived at the arena.

South Africa’s flag bearer Bridget Calitz brings her country’s team to the stage

Each country competing at this summer’s Games took to the stage with a Baton that was supposed to represent their culture (Nigerian team pictured)

But before Charles takes the stage again, each of the 74 countries competing in the Games will take to the stage with a Baton representing their culture.

This summer marks the second time the Commonwealth Games have been held in Scotland, after the country took over hosting duties from the Australian state of Victoria.

Southern hemisphere organizers pulled out in July 2023, citing rising costs, just over a year after agreeing to host. Victoria’s auditor general described the Games as ‘a waste of taxpayers’ money with no discernible benefit’.

The scale of the show in Glasgow will therefore be scaled back due to the serious shortfall in preparation time.

The number of events held has dropped from 20 to 10 (including cycling, swimming and basketball), and although 3,000 athletes from 74 countries and regions will participate, this is 2,000 fewer than usual.

The new stadium has not been built as running costs of nearly £800 million spent in Birmingham four years ago have now fallen to £160 million.

And for the first time since 1954, the BBC will not broadcast the games after TNT Sports spent £5 million to secure the rights. The live broadcast will be on HBO Max for £4.99, but daily highlights will be available to watch on Channel 5.

Athletics events will be held at the much smaller Scotstoun Stadium, which seats more than 10,000 people, and ticket sales are said to be generally slow.

Organizers are said to be hoping for a late surge in sales this morning, with seats priced between £45 and £95 for this morning’s opening ceremony not yet being snapped up.

Glasgow last hosted the Commonwealth Games 12 years ago. The opening ceremony that summer was held at the 60,000-capacity Celtic Park and was attended by Rod Stewart, Ewan McGregor and John Barrowman.

This year’s inaugural venue at Glasgow’s OVO Hydro is much smaller, seating just over 14,000 people.

Only 500,000 tickets were available for sale for the 11-day event, out of 1.2 million tickets offered for sale in 2014.