Explore the Tower of London
Excerpt from the book On a Tall Budget and Short Attention Span from the Teresa the Traveler Series.
On day six I visited the Tower of London, a fortress started in 1078, when William the Conqueror ordered the construction of the White Tower to protect the Normans from the Londoners and the Londoners from outside invaders. In the 12th century, King Richard the Lionheart (he got the name because of his reputation as a great warrior) enclosed the Tower with a large stone wall and moat. The Tower became a royal residence in the 13th century when King Henry III constructed more buildings within its walls. In 1830 the moat was drained because, with the use of artillery, moats had become obsolete.
Although it is no longer a royal residence, the Tower remains an official royal palace maintaining a permanent guard from the Queen’s Guard. Two sentries are also on duty during business hours; one outside the Jewel House and the other outside the Queen’s House.
Although it is no longer a royal residence, the Tower remains an official royal palace maintaining a permanent guard from the Queen’s Guard. Two sentries are also on duty during business hours; one outside the Jewel House and the other outside the Queen’s House.
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After purchasing my entrance ticket I waited at the gate for my tour to begin. Twenty-minutes later a man with a gray beard wearing a blue and red uniform with the letters ER emblazed across his chest came hobbling towards us with a cane. That was my first ever encounter with a Beefeater.
The Beefeaters The Yeomen Warders of Her Majesty’s Royal Palace and Fortress, the Tower of London, are the ceremonial guardians of the Tower of London. They are responsible for looking after the British crown jewels – a collection of crowns, scepters and swords along with other regalia and vestments worn by the sovereign of the United Kingdom during the coronation ceremony. They also act as tour guides. Most commonly known as Beefeaters, some believe they received this nickname, because at one time they were paid in rations of beef, mutton and veal. Others theorize it due to the fact that the elite troops were all fed beef (which was very expensive and not usually eaten by the general public) to make them strong. Retired Yeoman Warders continued to receive beef rations as a generous reward for their past service. This elite unit has been guarding the Tower since 1485. Today there are 35 Yeoman Warders and one Chief Warder. Beefeaters must be retired, non-commissioned officers of the British Armed Forces with at least 22 years of service and hold medals for long service and good conduct. The Yeoman Warders and their families live inside the fortress but must own a home outside the Tower in which to live when they retire. Traditionally male, on September 3rd 2007, the organization stepped into the modern age when Moira Cameron became the first female Yeoman Warder in the 522-year history of the institution. Just as Buckingham Palace has the Changing of the Guards, the Tower has the Ceremony of the Keys which takes place every night. The Chief Yeoman Warder meets the Military Escort just before 10 pm and together they secure the main gates of the tower. When they return down Water Lane, the party stops to identify themselves to the sentry then make one more stop before taking the keys to the Queen’s House for safe keeping. It would take something quite significant to interrupt this ceremony. During WWII a bomb dropped on the guard room as the Chief Yeoman Warder and his escorts were coming through. They got up, dusted themselves off and carried on, later sending a letter to the King apologizing for being late in completing the ceremony. In his reply, King George VI decided not to punish them. I guess they had a good excuse. Before bringing us onto the grounds, he regaled us with some tales of murder, conspiracy and public executions starting with a tale of a Duke whose head was on display on London Bridge after being beheaded on Tower Hill. The following day, the authorities realized they did not have a recent portrait of the Duke, so they sent a Beefeater to fetch the head. A doctor sewed it back onto the body so an artist could paint the portrait. The Beefeater joked that people who viewed the portrait often commented on how pale the Duke looked. Anne Boleyn and Catherine of Argon Anne Boleyn came from an aristocratic family and was the lady-in-waiting (personal assistant) to Queen Catherine of Aragon – King Henry’s first wife. At a young age, Catherine was married off to Henry’s older brother Prince Arthur but a year later Arthur died leaving Catherine a widow. Not wanting to return the dowry to Catherine’s father, King Henry VII arranged for Catherine to marry his other son Henry. The marriage depended on the Pope granting permission because religious law did not permit a man to marry his brother’s wife. Catherine testified that her marriage to Arthur was never consummated and the Pope granted the couple permission to be married. Although Catherine was pregnant six times, only one of the babies survived – Mary I of England. This concerned Henry who was eager to produce a male heir to the throne. The Tudor Dynasty was new and Henry could not risk its legitimacy by placing a woman on the throne. A long civil war had been fought the last time a woman had taken the throne. |
Sentry guard at the Tower of London
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In 1525, after 23 years of marriage, Henry became enamored with the lovely Anne Boleyn. Anne refused to become his mistress, unlike her older sister Mary Boleyn who is believed to have had an illegitimate son with Henry. The boy would have been the King’s first born son and heir to the throne.
Anne warded off the King’s advances until he became so obsessed with her that he annulled his marriage to Catherine on the grounds that he should not have married his brother’s wife. Anne succumbed to Henry’s advances and become pregnant. Shortly thereafter, as was the custom with royalty at the time, the couple had a second wedding service. The newly appointed Archbishop of Canterbury dutifully declared the marriage of Catherine and Henry null and void and the marriage of Henry to Anne valid.
This did not sit well with the Pope back in Rome who promptly ex-communicated both the King and the Archbishop, an act which resulted in the Church of England breaking off diplomatic relations with Rome and coming under the control of King Henry. In 1533, Catherine was formally stripped of her title and Anne was crowned Queen Consort.
Anne’s marriage to the King launched a period of church reform in England making her a heroine amongst Protestants. Not long after Anne gave birth to Elizabeth, the future Queen of England, tensions started developing between the couple and Henry began looking into the possibility of leaving Anne without having to return to Catherine. Anne, who had become pregnant again, was rightfully afraid of what might happen if she did not produce a son for the finicky King.
In 1536, Catherine died of cancer thus solving the King’s dilemma about remarrying her. Around the same time, Henry was badly injured when he was thrown off his horse and when news of the mishap got to Anne, (on the very day of Catherine`s funeral) she went into shock and miscarried the baby – a 15-week-old male fetus. This was the beginning of the end for the beautiful young Anne Boleyn.
Henry declared his marriage to Anne a product of witchcraft and moved his new mistress into the palace while he set about finding a way to dissolve his marriage to Anne. Accusations of incest and treason were also made against Anne’s brother George who was accused of plotting with her to produce a male child. A musician who worked for Anne was tortured into confessing he was the Queen’s lover and three other men from the court were also accused of beingi nvolved with the Queen.
Anne laughed when she heard the accusations because she had only briefly met the musician who was most likely a homosexual. Her trial was presided over by her uncle, the Duke of Norfolk (who had tears in his eyes when she was convicted). Anne was accused of
being a disciple of Satan who had bewitched Henry with sorcery. All five men accused at the trial were sentenced to brutally painful deaths by public hanging and disembowelment with the exception of George who was beheaded at Tower Hill as was customary for a nobleman.
Anne, who was imprisoned at the tower of London, was forbidden to see her family. She was executed at the Tower Greens on May 19th 1536. In an act of mercy, or perhaps guilt for being such a hypocrite, King Henry commuted her sentence of being burned at the stake, as was common for women convicted of witchcraft, to beheading. He was even generous enough to employ a swordsman from France rather than having his Queen beheaded with a common axe. What a great guy!
Her body was placed into an arrow chest, since Henry failed to provide a coffin, and buried in an unmarked grave under St Peter ad Vincula, the Tower’s parish church.
Anne’s mother Elizabeth died a year later and her father died not long after that. Her older sister Mary passed away in 1542. Less than eight years after Anne had become Queen of England, a goal her father helped to achieve so he could become a nobleman, not one member of the immediate Boleyn household was alive.
Anne warded off the King’s advances until he became so obsessed with her that he annulled his marriage to Catherine on the grounds that he should not have married his brother’s wife. Anne succumbed to Henry’s advances and become pregnant. Shortly thereafter, as was the custom with royalty at the time, the couple had a second wedding service. The newly appointed Archbishop of Canterbury dutifully declared the marriage of Catherine and Henry null and void and the marriage of Henry to Anne valid.
This did not sit well with the Pope back in Rome who promptly ex-communicated both the King and the Archbishop, an act which resulted in the Church of England breaking off diplomatic relations with Rome and coming under the control of King Henry. In 1533, Catherine was formally stripped of her title and Anne was crowned Queen Consort.
Anne’s marriage to the King launched a period of church reform in England making her a heroine amongst Protestants. Not long after Anne gave birth to Elizabeth, the future Queen of England, tensions started developing between the couple and Henry began looking into the possibility of leaving Anne without having to return to Catherine. Anne, who had become pregnant again, was rightfully afraid of what might happen if she did not produce a son for the finicky King.
In 1536, Catherine died of cancer thus solving the King’s dilemma about remarrying her. Around the same time, Henry was badly injured when he was thrown off his horse and when news of the mishap got to Anne, (on the very day of Catherine`s funeral) she went into shock and miscarried the baby – a 15-week-old male fetus. This was the beginning of the end for the beautiful young Anne Boleyn.
Henry declared his marriage to Anne a product of witchcraft and moved his new mistress into the palace while he set about finding a way to dissolve his marriage to Anne. Accusations of incest and treason were also made against Anne’s brother George who was accused of plotting with her to produce a male child. A musician who worked for Anne was tortured into confessing he was the Queen’s lover and three other men from the court were also accused of beingi nvolved with the Queen.
Anne laughed when she heard the accusations because she had only briefly met the musician who was most likely a homosexual. Her trial was presided over by her uncle, the Duke of Norfolk (who had tears in his eyes when she was convicted). Anne was accused of
being a disciple of Satan who had bewitched Henry with sorcery. All five men accused at the trial were sentenced to brutally painful deaths by public hanging and disembowelment with the exception of George who was beheaded at Tower Hill as was customary for a nobleman.
Anne, who was imprisoned at the tower of London, was forbidden to see her family. She was executed at the Tower Greens on May 19th 1536. In an act of mercy, or perhaps guilt for being such a hypocrite, King Henry commuted her sentence of being burned at the stake, as was common for women convicted of witchcraft, to beheading. He was even generous enough to employ a swordsman from France rather than having his Queen beheaded with a common axe. What a great guy!
Her body was placed into an arrow chest, since Henry failed to provide a coffin, and buried in an unmarked grave under St Peter ad Vincula, the Tower’s parish church.
Anne’s mother Elizabeth died a year later and her father died not long after that. Her older sister Mary passed away in 1542. Less than eight years after Anne had become Queen of England, a goal her father helped to achieve so he could become a nobleman, not one member of the immediate Boleyn household was alive.
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For tips on visiting England CLICK HERE
For tips on visiting Europe CLICK HERE For general travel tips on what to pack and how to plan ahead CLICK HERE For tips on travelling on a budget CLICK HERE |
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Where I Stayed...
Easton Hotel 36-40 Belgrave Road London, England Tel: 020 7834 5938 Fax: 020 7976 6560 [email protected] To book this hotel CLICK HERE 
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How to Get There: Take the Underground to Tower Hill Station
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