Ceremony of the KEYS!

While the Tower remains a living fortress, changing and adapting as times demand, it still maintains centuries of colorful traditions. We had RARE tickets (only 50 per day) and went to the best known ceremonial, locking and unlocking of the gates of the fortress, which has taken place for 700 years, The Ceremony of the Keys. This the time-honored challenge that has been barked out by a soldier guarding the Tower, every night:

'Halt! Who comes there?’.

What is there to guard? The Crown Jewels have been stored and displayed at the Tower of London since 1661, continuing a long tradition of storing precious objects here. This magnificent world-famous collection of 23,578 gemstones is part of the Royal Collection and boasts items that are still used in royal ceremonies today.

The Crown Jewels are under armed guard in the Jewel House at the Tower of London. Following their use in the Coronation ceremony of Their Majesties King Charles III and Queen Camilla on 6 May 2023, the regalia returned to public display in the Treasury of the Jewel House. Her Majesty Queen Camilla's Crown was originally made for Queen Mary by Garrard for the 1911 Coronation. The Crown was modified for Queen Camilla ahead of the 2023 Coronation. In addition, when the ceremony first started, there were many other valuables kept there including the materials for making the currency.

Set amidst the mighty battlements of this ancient historic fortress, the Ceremony of the Keys is one of the oldest surviving enactments of its kind. Although the monarch may no longer reside at the Tower, the Crown Jewels and many other invaluable objects still do, therefore its importance is still relevant today.

The formal locking and unlocking of the Tower gates started in the mid 1300s, on the orders of a furious Edward III. The King turned up unannounced at the Tower one night in December 1340 and walked straight in, unchallenged! After imprisoning the Constable of the Tower, Edward de la Beche, for dereliction of duty, Edward decreed that the castle should be locked at sunset and unlocked at sunrise. The King was also inspired to carry out a thorough review of security and generally improve the Tower’s rather neglected state. Edward III ordered the Sheriffs of London to contribute £40 to improvements at the Tower, around £30,000 in today’s money!

Two hundred years later, a nervous Mary I (rein 1553-8) was keen to improve security at the Tower as she grew increasingly unpopular. In 1555, after the failed Protestant plot and execution of Lady Jane Grey, the Queen ordered the Constable of the Tower to beef up the Beefeaters. The Constable was to ensure that there should be no fewer than 21 discreet, trusty and personable yeomen of middle age, none above 50 or below 30. Mary also decreed that 9 Yeoman Warders were to patrol during the day, and 6 at night. Yeoman Warders (royal bodyguards) have been guarding the Tower of London since Henry VIII. They come from the armed forces taking an oath from 1337. Often called “Beefeaters”, a nickname, as a thank you, Beefeater Gin annually send every Yeoman Warder a bottle of gin on his or her birthday! Yeoman Warders need to have at least 22 years’ military service, have reached a the highest rank within their service and to have been awarded the long service and good conduct medal (described to us as no negative events in their file for 15 of their 22 years).

Detailed instructions were also laid down for securing the keys at night. The original text describes the form of the ceremony that has been performed nearly every night since:

“And it is ordered that there shall be a place appointed under lock and key where in the keys of the gates of the said Tower shall be laid in the sight of the constable, the porter and two of the Yeoman Warders, or three of them at the least, and by two or three of them to be taken out when they shall be occupied. And the key of that lock or coffer where the keys be, to be kept by the porter or, in his absence, by the chief yeoman warder.”

Fast forward 300 years in 1826, the Duke of Wellington, then Constable of the Tower, ordered that the time of the ceremony should be fixed at 10pm, rather than the more vague “sunset”. This was to ensure that all his soldiers stationed at the Tower were inside the walls before the gates were locked (rather than out carousing, as we were told they were known to do). The only time the ceremony has ever been disrupted in 700 years was when a bomb fell on the Tower on 12/29/1940. The Chief Yeoman Warder was blown off his feet, but otherwise unhurt.

What happens at the Ceremony?
Since 1826, at exactly seven minutes to ten at night, the Chief Yeoman Warder of the Tower emerges from the Byward Tower, wearing the traditional red Watch Coat and Tudor Bonnet. In one hand, he carries a lantern, still lit to this day with a single candle. In the other he carries a set of keys – the King’s Keys!

Footsteps echo in the darkness as the sentry cries out, 'Halt, who comes there?' The Yeoman Warder replies, 'The keys.' 'Whose keys?' 'King Charles' keys.' 'Pass then, all's well.' Aside from the monarch's name, this is the exact exchange that has been spoken for centuries and forms part of the traditional 'locking up' of the Tower of London.

He proceeds at a dignified pace to the archway of the Bloody Tower, where an escort is formed in readiness. This escort is made up of soldiers from the military garrison at the Tower. It comprises two sentries, a sergeant and another guard who represents the role of drummer (but who actually plays a bugle). The Chief Yeoman Warder then hands the lantern to the drummer and they all march to the outer gates of the Tower. The Chief, assisted by the Tower’s Watchman, closes, locks and secures the outer gates, while the escort stand guard. The same process takes place at the inner gates.

As the clock strikes 10, the Chief Yeoman Warder moves two paces forward, raises his Tudor bonnet high in the air and says: ‘God preserve King Charles’. The guard answers ‘Amen’, exactly as the clock chimes ten, the soldier representing the drummer sounds 'The Last Post' on a bugle.

The Chief Yeoman Warder takes the keys back to the King's House, to hand them back to the King’s representative at the Tower, The Resident Governor, and the Guard is dismissed.
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