Ceremony of the Keys (London)

Did You Know?

• Between 40 and 50 visitors are allowed to attend the ceremony each night, under escort.
• Tickets go on sale usually on the first working day of the month for the following month.
• The ceremony was suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic and reopened to the public on 1 June 2021.

Ceremony

At exactly 9.52 pm, the Chief Yeoman Warder, wearing a Tudor watchcoat and bonnet and carrying a candle lantern, leaves the Byward Tower and joins the Escort to the Keys, a military escort of armed members of the Tower of London Guard. The Warder hands his lantern to a soldier and marches with his escort to the outer gate. Sentries on duty salute the King's Keys as they pass. The Warder locks the outer gate, then the gates of the Middle and Byward Towers. The party proceeds down Water Lane to the Bloody Tower archway, where a sentry challenges them. They continue to the foot of Broadwalk Steps, where the main Tower Guard is drawn up. The party halts, the officer commands present arms, and the Chief Warder steps forward, removes his bonnet, and makes a proclamation. The Guard is dismissed, and the Chief Warder takes the keys to the King's House for overnight safekeeping.

History

The ceremony's origins are unknown; it may have begun during the Middle Ages, and a ceremony in some form is often said to have been held since the 14th century. Written instructions from the 16th century direct that a Tower officer should secure the keys in a safe place after locking the gates. The current form likely dates to the 19th century, when the Duke of Wellington, then Constable of the Tower, reformed the institution of the Yeomen Warders. The ceremony has never been cancelled and was delayed only once, due to enemy action during the Second World War. On 16 April 1941, a German bomb wounded members of the escort, yet the ceremony was completed properly. During much of the First World War, the Honourable Artillery Company provided the Tower garrison; in 1919, after handing back the Tower Guard to the Foot Guards, the HAC's 3rd Battalion presented a lantern to the Yeomen Warders on 12 May 1919 as a mark of friendship. That lamp has been used for the ceremony every night since.