Sparks flew as the Olympic torch arrived in England Friday and was lit for its very own welcoming ceremony. Next up is a 70-day torch relay spanning 8,000 miles across the UK and Ireland before landing in London for this year's highly anticipated Summer Olympic Games.

Finally - The arrival of the Olympic flame.

The event marks the start of a 70-day tour which will take in more than a thousand cities, town and villages in Britain and will also visit Dublin in the Irish Republic.

Britain's Princess Anne (C) carries the Olympic Flame as it arrives at RNAS Culdrose air base in Cornwall, Britain, May 18, 2012. [Xinhua]

The president of the British Olympic Association, the Princess Royal carried the flame - plus a backup - inside a special lantern and was the first down the steps.

Princess Anne said, "It comes home to you just how importantly people regard the torch as the lead up to the games. When you are concentrating on the stadiums, the facilities, and all those things that go on around about and it's only really when the torch comes into your possession and actually gets here that you really realise that this is it. It’s here."

British soccer player and London 2012 Olympic Games ambassador David Beckham holds the Olympic torch as the Olympic Flame arrives at RNAS Culdrose air base in Cornwall, Britain, May 18, 2012. [Xinhua]

She was accompanied by Lord Sebastian Coe, chairman of the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games and Olympic Ambassador and former England national team captain David Beckham.

Olympic Ambassador David Beckham said, "I mean it's amazing, you know, Seb and the team have done an incredible job, you know, and to be part of this team bringing the flame - not just to England, but to the East End of London like you say, to a part of London where I grew up. I'm very proud of that, so as a nation we're going to have an amazing couple of months."

One of Great Britain's most successful Olympians, yachtsman Ben Ainslie, will be the first to carry the torch in the relay on Saturday.

The flame will be flown by Sea King helicopter to the most westerly point on the English mainland, Land's End, for the first stop of the 70 day event.

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