INSIDE TOWER OF LONDON 🇬🇧

The Tower Guard is composed of one officer, six non-commissioned officers, and fifteen soldiers, and typically posts a sentry outside the Jewel House and another outside the King’s House. Responsible for the Tower’s protection (in collaboration with the Yeomen Warders and the Jewel House wardens), the Guard must also ensure it is secure at night.

Each day at 3:00 p.m., the Officer of the Guard and an escort march to the Byward Tower to collect the “Word”—a daily changing password used for after-hours entry to the Tower of London by Tower staff, residents, and soldiers on duty. Then, at exactly seven minutes before 10:00 p.m. each night, the Chief Yeoman Warder, escorted by a member of the Guard, secures the Tower in the ancient tradition of the Ceremony of the Keys.