Anne Boleyn

Throughout its history, the tower has served many purposes: it housed the royal mint (until the early 19th century), a menagerie (which left in 1835), a records office, an armory and barracks for troops. Until the 17th century, it was also used as a royal residence.

The Tower was reserved for the superstars of their day, including the three queens: Anne Boleyn (1536), Catherine Howard (1542) and Lady Jane Grey (1554), who were all beheaded. As befits their station in life these were private executions, carried out beyond the gaze of the great unwashed.

Rudolf Hess

The Tower of London And it all belongs to Queen Elizabeth—including the Crown Jewels and, by extension, the Tower’s famed flock of ravens.

As tradition going back 700 years, all Yeoman Warders and their families live within the Tower walls. Right now about 150 people, including a doctor and a chaplain, claim the Tower of London as their home address.

To prevent the birds flying away one of their wings is clipped by the Ravenmaster. This does not hurt the raven nor does it harm them in any way. By unbalancing their flight it ensures that they don’t stray too far from the Tower.

(Buffetiers were guards in the palace of French kings. They protected the king’s food.) However, the name Beefeater is more likely to have originated from the time when the Yeomen Warders at the Tower were paid part of their salary with chunks of beef. This took place right up until the 1800s.

Around 37 Yeoman Warders, who are paid around £30,000 a year, live with their families in historic buildings just outside the Tower of London which they guard, many able to see the Tower from their bedroom windows.

The 38 Yeoman Warders have been told they must retire at 60 instead of 65, which some say will plunge them into serious financial difficulties. The news was broken to the old soldiers last month by the Historic Royal Palaces Agency, a part of Virginia Bottomley’s Department of National Heritage.

The Yeomen Warders and their families live in tied accommodation inside the fortress, paying council taxes and rent.

The body of the Yeoman consists of only 37 men and women, who are nicknamed the ‘beefeaters.

Moira Cameron is a Yeoman Warder of the Tower of London, England. She is the first woman to ever hold the position. In 2007, after a 22-year career in the British Army, Cameron became one of the 35 resident Warders in the Tower of London, commonly known as the Beefeaters.

While the Crown Jewels are real, they are not the 11th-century originals. The Civil Wars that began in 1642 effectively ended with the execution of Charles I in 1649. After his death, the victorious Parliamentarians ordered the destruction of the Crown Jewels, intent on removing all sacred symbols of monarchy.

Yeoman Warders now mainly act as tour guides on a day-to-day basis when not performing ceremonial duties – pay starts at around £24,000.

The Beefeaters are the ceremonial guardians of the Tower of London, they don’t carry guns. All of them are retired Warrant Officers from the Armed Forces and must have at least 22 years of service and hold the Long Service and Good Conduct Medal.

Living in the Tower of London is perhaps one of the biggest perks of any job. But Bob Loughlin is set to give it all up – so he can retire to the beautiful Suffolk countryside.

In order to qualify as a Yeoman Warder any candidate must have served for at least 22 years in the armed forces, be a former warrant officer or senior non commissioned, plus hold the Long Service and Good Conduct medal. So that’s most of us mere mortals already out of the running then.

There are 37 yeoman warders, nicknamed beefeaters, who guard the Crown Jewels and live inside the tower’s grounds with their families.

Who are the Yeoman Warders? Today’s Yeoman Warders need to have at least 22 years’ military service. Apart from that, they need to have reached the rank of warrant officer and to have been awarded the long service and good conduct medal.

Average Beefeater hourly pay ranges from approximately £8.21 per hour for Bartender to £10.51 per hour for Kitchen Manager. The average Beefeater salary ranges from approximately £12,120 per year for Bartender to £30,842 per year for Kitchen Manager.

Answer. Answer: The origins are that every gunner in the British military and the French military wore bearskin caps to make them taller and more intimidating because they were the ones that did the hand to hand fighting. In Napoleon’s imperial guard everybody wore them, and they were supposed to be his elite troops.

The Guard’s intimidating weapons only have ammo in them when they are aware of a potential serious security threat. The guard on Reddit, who uses the username “nibs123,” says that he has never carried a loaded gun as a Guardsman.

Guards are not to be touched “You are allowed to get them away by shouting warnings at them. If they fail to move away or start to act aggressively we present our bayonets… to remind them that we can do more harm than them. But usually the police are quick and remove trouble makers,” he posted to Reddit wrote.