A message from The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to the Race to Recovery team on completion of the Dakar Rally

Many nations here today, the United Kingdom among them, owe you a great debt of gratitude for your fortitude and resistance.

In short, places where freedom may be expressed with such ease.

The reason why the earthquakes did not defeat Christchurch is because of you, and what has united all of you.

With the stroke of a pen and 13 rules, Saturday afternoons were never the same again.

I cannot tell you how excited I am that later today we will be playing football on my grandmother’s lawn.

What unites us all as 53 different nations is our love of a game that crosses boundaries.

We must not let the wounded men and women of our Armed Forces down.

Glasgow is a city with a great buzz and enormous optimism.

It will be far more than just a world class facility for training our future world-beating national team.

We will witness an exceptional moment in our Island History.

Hardly a family in the country went unscathed.

It is remarkable what these ex-Servicemen and women are able to achieve for these young people by working together with them, for their own good and for the benefit of us all.

We have much to learn from you.

My father, The Prince of Wales, and my brother, Harry, were as green as that grass outside when I told them I'd be here today.

To exchange combat kit for ceremonial uniform in the space of two weeks is nothing short of remarkable.

Truly a FIFA World Cup for the world.

We all know that we could not be as we are, collectively and individually, without their selfless duty.

This is where the stars of the future will first discover their talents.

Each one of those young men died for you and for me.

Here reigns courage, humour, compassion and, above all, hope for the future.

Sport, to a great degree, also reflects society – good and bad.