A CEREMONY PERFORMED EVERY NIGHT FOR AT LEAST 700 YEARS
14th August 2026 by | Uncategorized
A CEREMONY PERFORMED EVERY NIGHT FOR AT LEAST 700 YEARS
Each evening, after visitors have departed, the Tower of London is formally secured in the Ceremony of the Keys—one of Britain’s oldest surviving ceremonial traditions.
Escorted by armed guards, the Chief Yeoman Warder locks the outer gates and carries the King’s Keys through the fortress. The familiar challenge follows: “Halt! Who comes there?” “The Keys.” “Whose Keys?” “King Charles’s Keys.”
The ceremony is not merely theatre. The monarch may no longer live within the Tower, but the Crown Jewels and other objects of national importance remain under guard.
Historic Royal Palaces records that the ceremony has taken place every night for at least 700 years. Through changing dynasties, civil war, plague and world wars, the ritual of securing the Tower has endured.
There is something deeply moving about hearing an ancient exchange spoken for a modern King.
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