Her Majesty The Queen presented awards to the 2016 Queen’s Young Leaders, including Jamaica winner Tijani Christian, in a special ceremony at Buckingham Palace on Thursday.

The award is the latest in a string of national and regional accplades for Christian, a teacher at Jamaica College. Last year he was installed Jamaica Youth Ambassador to the Commonwealth, and in 2013 he won the Prime Minister’s Youth Award for Excellence in the category of leadership, for example. He currently works on an initiative called Plant Jamaica, which aims to promote sustainable livelihoods through community farms and he is seeking to launch an initiative called Commonwealth Emerging Leaders Connect which will bring young leaders from across the Commonwealth together to share knowledge and ideas.

Her Majesty was supported by His Royal Highness Prince Harry, former prime minister and chairman of The Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust Sir John Major, footballer David Beckham and comedian, actor, singer, writer, and television presenter Sir Lenny Henry.

Speaking at the ceremony, Prince Harry said: “The Queen’s Young Leaders Award recognises what you have achieved, not for yourselves, but for your communities, for your peers, and for those less fortunate.

“You have already been an inspiration to so many; but I hope this award will inspire you to go out and achieve even greater things in the future, empowered by the network of leaders you now sit amongst,” he continued.

David Beckham said: “I am thrilled to be here once again to help Her Majesty The Queen in congratulating a new group of inspiring young leaders. I know those who won last year are continuing to build on the opportunities the award has provided them. I look forward to following the progress of the class of 2016 and have no doubt we will be seeing a lot ofthis year’s exceptional group of young people as they continue to make lasting change in their communities.”

In what is a royal first, Buckingham Palace opened its doors to vlogger Alfie Deyes, who was given special access to document the occasion via his social media channels. Speaking about his involvement in The Queen’s Young Leaders ceremony, Alfie said: “To be the first vlogger to be given access to Buckingham Palace has been a massive privilege. It was amazing to meet all of the Queen’s Young Leaders and to hear about all of the incredible work they are doing around the world.”

In the year of Her Majesty The Queen’s 90th birthday, The Queen’s Young Leaders have all been taking part in a series of high-level engagements across London and in Cambridge over the course of the past week.

These included participating in a challenge set by global social networking company

Twitter, meeting senior executives atBBC World News and visiting 10 Downing Street, the official residence of the British prime minister. As part of the programme, they also received leadership training at the University of Cambridge’s Institute of Continuing Education, met UK business leaders from Standard Chartered, AMV BBDO and PWC, and heard from leaders from UK charities working to deliver life-changing projects.

This year’s programme ended on Friday with a visit to Marlborough House to meet the Commonwealth secretary-general and high commissioners, and an exclusive event at The Shard.

The Queen’s Young Leaders Programme was established in honour of Her Majesty The Queen’s 60 years of service to the Commonwealth at the time of her diamond jubilee. It is implemented by The Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust, in partnership with Comic Relief and The Royal Commonwealth Society.

Each year from 2014 to 2018, 60 exceptional young people will be selected to receive an award and become ‘Queen’s Young Leaders’ — one for every year that The Queen had served as head of the Commonwealth at the time of her diamond jubilee.

“Guided by the values of the Commonwealth Charter, the goal of the programme is to enable young people to step up as leaders and improve the lives of people across the Commonwealth,” the organisers have said.

The search for the 2017 cohort is now open. Application or nomination forms can be accessed at www.queensyoungleaders.com