Just a quick post to let you know about a wonderful article on the Daily Mail website which gives information about the Ceremony of the Keys and also the history of the royal menagerie, the animals that were housed at the Tower from the reign of King John in the 13th century until the last of the animals were rehomed in the 19th century. It is a fascinating read and makes you realise that humans were not the only prisoners in the Tower! One can only imagine the noise they made, the noise that Elizabeth would have heard when she was a prisoner at the Tower.

Click here to read “The polar bear who lived at the Tower… along with a grumpy lion and a baboon who threw cannon balls: Britain’s first (and most bizarre) zoo” by Julia Stuart.