ROBERT HARDMAN: Kiwi conch blowers and bobbing Maori marked the most peculiar day at Westminster Abbey

Of all the titles you now hold, this is the only one that must be earned rather than simply inherited.

So the new Head of the Commonwealth was determined to make his mark on his first Commonwealth Day in charge.

“In succeeding Her Majesty as Head of the Commonwealth,” the King told a congregation of 2,000 at Westminster Abbey yesterday afternoon, “I draw great strength from her example, along with all that I have learned from the extraordinary people I have known, across the Commonwealth, for so many years.

The titular leadership of the organization is not hereditary.

However, it was almost five years ago that the leaders of the Commonwealth nations unanimously agreed at their 2018 summit that the then-Prince of Wales should succeed the Queen.

What was unusual yesterday was that the King was delivering the usual Commonwealth Day message in person and from the Abbey pulpit.

The late Queen would issue her annual message in the form of a written statement or pre-record it.

Delivering what served as both a sermon and a promise to an organization that encompasses nearly a third of the world’s population, the King underlined how seriously he intends to take on this role.

It also alluded to the depth of personal knowledge he brings to an organization renowned for its diversity.

“The Commonwealth has been a constant in my own life, and yet its diversity continues to amaze and inspire me,” he continued.

‘His near limitless potential as a force for good in the world demands our greatest ambition; its sheer scale challenges us to come together and be bold.’

There were also echoes of his earlier speeches on environmental issues delivered when he was Prince of Wales.

Those who decreed that he would have to take a vow of silence on such matters once he became king have been proven wrong.

“The Commonwealth has an incredible opportunity and responsibility to create a genuinely enduring future, one that offers the kind of prosperity that is in harmony with nature and that will also secure our one and only planet for generations to come,” he added.

His words complemented those of the other speaker at yesterday’s service, a young environmental activist from Samoa, who called for more support for small island nations on the front lines of climate change.

This year’s Abbey service had the added benefit of having an additional layer of international leaders in attendance, as London is hosting this week’s Commonwealth Foreign Ministers’ conference.

It should have taken place at the United Nations last fall, but was delayed after the Queen’s death.

The Abbey service, the last major event before the Coronation in May, was the usual mix of pop music, dancing and ancient ceremonies.

The Commonwealth Day celebration is always the most peculiar of the Abbey calendar.

The king and queen consort were greeted by Kiwi snail boats and a swaying Maori chorus, drowning out a small cross-section of a variety of protesters across the road.

The King was joined by a full turnout from the new ‘working’ royal family: the Prince and Princess of Wales, the Princess Royal and Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence and the new Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh.

Their elevation to the dukedom was still so new that the order of service had listed them as the ‘Earl and Countess of Wessex’.