England - Tower of London
Welcome to the Tower of London. This was our Beefeater, who I’m sure has a lovely name. I just can’t remember it. Funny guy. He told us that he served 20+ years in the armed forces, which is a requirement for becoming a Beefeater. He and his family actually live in apartments on Tower grounds, which I think is so awesome. Then Sira mentioned that it must kind of suck to live and work in the same place. Anyway, he basically told us some stories, got us through the entrance, and into The Chapel Royal of St. Peter ad Vincula before letting us loose to gawk at places on our own. The Chapel is still in use - the employees of the Tower just have to share it with a crypt filled with the bones of past prisoners that is towards the back, a tomb of Tower Lieutenant Sir Richard Cholmondeley and his wife that is in the middle and is basically empty because God only knows where the actual bodies are, and the burial spots of Queen Anne Boleyn and Queen Catherine Howard that are near the altar. The main players on the wrong side of the clusterfuck that ended with Jane Grey being ejected from the throne like a cannonball after 9 days were also buried there. No pictures in the chapel because, hey, it’s a chapel so that would be rude.
About the prisoners - apparently, the Chapel fell into disrepair due to various kings/queens not giving a tiny rat’s ass about it until Queen Victoria came around and ordered it renovated. The workers were doing so when they realized that the ground was kind of bumpy. And that is how a bunch of prisoners got bundled together in one crypt.
He made a joke about Catherine Howard’s speech, given as she prepared to have her head cut off for adultery - it is said that she stated that she died a Queen, but would rather die the wife of Thomas Culpeper. The Beefeater said that it was a nice sentiment, but it really wasn’t nice to Culpeper, who would have a pissed-off Henry VIII to deal with. It actually really wouldn’t matter, since Culpeper’s head was no longer attached to his body by that time.
Oh, he also told us about the Duke of Monmouth, who was beheaded but was later found with his head sewn on to his body. The story is that they executed him and then realized, oops, they didn’t have a portrait. So they put him back together and painted his portrait, in which he had a “vaguely vacant stare.” I later went to the National Portrait Gallery and saw the portrait that I think he was talking about:
However, there were another portrait of the Duke, in which he looked very alive, so who knows? Right now, the NPG has that down as a portrait of an “Unknown Man.”
I didn’t know about the Duke of Monmouth, so I thank our lovely Beefeater for providing that info.
The White Tower, which is a never-ending series of rooms. There is so much to see there that we ended up having to take a rest right afterwards.
I think this is James II. He’s another one that got booted from the throne, at the hands of his daughter and son-in-law/nephew. This is what happens when you learn the wrong lessons from the revolution that ends with your father being beheaded in the same banqueting hall he used to party in.
This is . . . a chapel? I don’t remember there being signs telling us not to take pictures, which is what they have in all the chapels, so it was a bit weird. Anyway, this was put there by one of the Edwards - I want to say Edward III, but am not sure. Those columns were originally red and cream-colored.
One of the stairs that lead to the upper sections of the White Tower - these were all roped off.
Henry VIII’s armor. This was back when he was young and brought to mind images of a strong and handsome embodiment of all that was right for England and not, you know, Jabba the Hut with a crown. Not shown: Henry VIII’s armor from later years, which has a beer belly. Awesome.
Entrance to the Bloody Tower [“The Garden Tower”]. There is a bare room to vote for who you think is most likely responsible for the deaths of King Edward V and Richard, Duke of York [aka ‘The Princes in the Tower’]. There is another room dealing with some woman poisoning some dude.
And then there is the room of Sir Walter Raleigh, who was imprisoned here for 13 years. His work, The Historie of the World is displayed over on the side of this room. He was supposed to be sentenced to death for treason but, apparently, he impressed King James I enough to get it down to a mere imprisonment. He was actually released, proceeded to piss off the Spanish enough to get their ambassador calling for his head, and was executed in 1618.
The Jewel Tower. Yeah, that’s about as close as you can get to getting pictures of the place. Those crowns looked like toys or somethin’ - like, my mind cannot comprehend having so many big jewels put together like that. There were plates, goblets, basins, fountain bowls, and basically anything you could think of that is used in a grand feast - all in solid gold. Unbelievable.
A guard in front of the Regional Governor’s apartments. These were the Queen’s apartments back in the day. In between housing the Queen and housing the Regional Governor, these apartments also held Rudolf Hess. This was shot while waiting on line for the Bloody Tower, so you could see how close the two spots were.
Old wall.
Older wall. These shot was taken for my brother, who loves Roman history. There is actually two things being seen here - the older Roman wall on the inside and the remains of the Wardrobe Tower on the outside. That was actually built on the orders of Richard I to house, well, the king’s wardrobe - and jewels and armor and basically, anything he could wear. Charles II dealt the final blow to that particular tower and this is what remains.
One of the HUGE ravens that hang around the Tower. This fellow got a lot of food from us tourists. Anyway, there is a legend that states that if the ravens ever leave the Tower, the monarchy will fall. When Charles II was restored to the throne, he made sure that there were always ravens in the Tower after being told of the legend. They’ve been there ever since. Their wings get clipped and there are a couple of extra ravens kept in reserve just in case something happens to one of the required six. They are apparently spoiled beyond belief.
This is the entrance to the upstairs of the Beauchamp Tower, which has my favorite exhibition - the Prisoners Exhibition. You could sort of see like, a plastic covering on the wall below the sign - these coverings were to cover the graffiti that various prisoners had left behind. People would actually carve these things in the stones on the wall.
The numbers were to match them up with a huge chart that was over on the other side. There were 90+ carvings.
Peverel! I actually squeed at this one, since that’s the name that Rowling used for the three brothers that were the ancestors of a good chunk of the characters in the Harry Potter wizard community.
We totally lost the picture, but there was a close-up of one of about 3 or 4 “Janes” that were found on the walls. The Tower folks think that these were made by supporters of Lady Jane Grey, which I think is nifty.
This is the view that you get when you leave the Tower. I love this bridge so very much. It looks like ribbons are holding it up. We walked through it and got off on the wrong place, but did stumble upon a gate leading to the Thames. A little sign over to the sign stated that that was where they would haul in the bodies that were floating by. Sweet.
Next up [and final picture entry] - Leeds Castle.