Yeoman Warders — who in the Middle Ages were jailers to prisoners on death row in the Tower of London — are standard-bearers of a 700-year-old tradition which dates back to England's Tudor period.

Such men were once the privileged recipients of a daily ration of beef and beer. But beef was a delicacy in days of yore, and this stirred a great deal of animosity amongst the disgruntled — hence the "beefeater" monicker.

These days there are 38 of them, cloaked in regal red and marine blue, strapped to the waist and bearing royal emblems. They maintain centuries of tradition — not by accompanying prisoners to their execution, mind you, but by entertaining tourists with their sometimes gruesome tales of eras gone by.

Since 1827, all of them have been retired sergeant-majors from the British army, blessed with a histrionic gift of the gab for unearthing the bloodstained past of the Tower of London to visitors from around the world.

In Her Majesty's Service...
Nicholas Thompson (49), a beefeater for the past six years, is proud of being part and parcel of a unique profession. "We've got an extraordinary history in the Tower of London and I'm part of it," he told AFP.

Upholding this medieval tradition is an act of allegiance to Queen Elizabeth II for this faithful subject. "The monarchy represents the country without the need for politicians," he says.

Every evening at 9.30pm, either Nicholas or one of his colleagues carries out the Ceremony of the Keys, a nightly ritual during which a Yeoman Warder hands the prison keys to the Queen's House inside the Tower of London.

The Tower of London, which once doubled as a palace, has been host since the Middle Ages to some 10 English dynasties, of which the Plantagenets, the Tudors and the Stuarts were the most famous. The heads of everyone from kings to commoners were chopped off there.

The Yeoman Warder, fulfilling his role as macabre storyteller, cynically recounts bloody chapters from the Tower's history. "When they beheaded Anne Boleyn, who was still queen and wife of Henry VIII at the time, her lips were still moving when they raised her head," Nicholas and his colleagues relate.

"Picture the scene when Jane Grey arrived, with less than a minute to live," he said. "Try to imagine the first thing she must have thought of when she saw her husband's decapitated head. She was only 16," he ends with a Machiavellian laugh.

"Remember, everything I tell you is absolutely true."

One burning question lingers. "Are there any vegetarian beefeaters?", a visitor asks on his way out. "None," Nicholas replies dryly in defensive mode.

		Visiting the Tower of London Click here for the official Tower of London homepage. Admission costs £12.50 per person, but if you can't afford it you can click here for a virtual tour of the Tower of London. For more information on travelling in the United Kingdom, go to the Visit Britain website. South African passport holders do not require a visa to enter Britain for holiday purposes. A number of airlines fly directly from South Africa to the UK. Click here to book tickets online.

AFP