Spectacular Ceremony of the Keys visit

The ceremony of the Keys visit

Ceremony of the Keys - last night members of The Beauchamp Lodge, and their friends and families, visited the Tower of London to experience The Ceremony of the Keys. In all 51 people attended making it an absolutely fantastic event.

The evening started with many members of the group (approx. 30 or so) gathering at the Crutched Friar Tavern, 39-41 The Crutched Friars, London, EC3N 2AE at 5pm for drinks and a pre-event meal.

At 7pm the group gathered outside the Tavern and gently made their way through the back streets towards the Tower, the route chosen taking the group past the incredible Four Seasons Hotel, 10 Trinity Square.

The group also stopped for a short while in the Trinity Square Gardens to look at the Execution and Wartime Sacrifice memorials.

After which we made our way across Tower Hill Road and down to the main wrought iron entrance gates that still bear the monogram of our late Queen.

The evening started with an insight into the history of the Tower, from the Normans to the modern day, from our guide for the evening Royal Yeoman Warder ‘Gary’ one of the latest additions to the staff being numbered Royal Yeoman Warder no. 421 out of a total of 422 (‘warders’ to date).

We were then introduced to ‘The Keys’ more commonly known as the Yeoman Warder’s club and what a treat that was.

After a refreshment or two we were then walked down the witness the main event, The Ceremony of the Keys, an event that has taken place uninterrupted, at exactly the same time each night, since 1340 - nearly 700 years, and what a great event it is. We will not spoil it for those that are yet to see the ceremony, suffice to say no-one does pomp and ceremony like us Brits and when we do, we do it extremely well. The Escort to the Keys on the night being provided by the Grenadier Guards.

After the Ceremony of the Keys we were able to take a few more photos, on our way back to the Keys club, before retiring for the evening.

The evening was so enjoyable we plan to visit again in the summer.

This post has been created by the West Kent Military lodge for information. If you would like to now more about the Lodge contact us here