All warders are retired from the British Armed Forces and must be former warrant officers with at least 22 years of service. They must also hold the Long Service and Good Conduct Medal. [1] The garrison consists of 32 (formerly 37) Yeomen Warders and one Chief Warder. [2] [3] [4] A Yeoman Warder in his newly produced dress showing Charles III's Cypher. Photographed at the gates of The Tower of London 24th April 2023 The Yeomen Warders provided the permanent garrison of the Tower, but the Constable of the Tower could call upon the men of the Tower Hamlets to supplement them when necessary. The Tower Hamlets was an area significantly larger than the modern London Borough of the same name, which owed military service to the Constable in his ex officio role as Lord Lieutenant of the Tower Hamlets. [15] Current duties [ edit ] Moira Cameron, the first female Yeoman Warder The initials ER on the their uniforms stand for Elizabetha Regina (Regina is latin for queen). The initials refer to Elizabeth the Second, who is the present Queen

Benusis, Jota (1998). Broth Handbook (3rded.). Rapid City, South Dakota: Travis Russell & Associates. p.46. Comment: The womble costume was awesome at the festival this weekend. It has become a bit of a legend xxx Thank you so much 🙂 xxx France, Anthony (19 October 2020). "Beefeaters avoid chop as jobs are cut at Tower of London". Evening Standard. London . Retrieved 29 November 2021. Sax, Boria (5 July 2012). City of Ravens: The Extraordinary History of London, the Tower and its Famous Ravens. New York: Harry N. Abrams. ISBN 978-1-5902-0777-2. Skaife, Christopher (2018). The Ravenmaster: My Life with the Ravens at the Tower of London. New York. ISBN 9781443455930. {{ cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher ( link)Yeomen Warders working at the Tower of London, are usually seen wearing the blue undress uniform (pictured left) granted to them by Queen Victoria in 1858. a b Rudgard, Olivia (15 May 2017). "Exclusive: Could the legend come true? Tower of London raven allowed to fly free". The Daily Telegraph. London . Retrieved 29 November 2021. Yeoman Warders are the monarch’s personal bodyguard and have been since the 15th century when they were founded following the Battle of Bosworth, a crucial battle in the War of the Roses that saw King Richard III defeated.

A review had considered the possibility of recycling the current uniforms and simply replacing the cypher with the new one, but this idea has now been rejected. A spokesperson for Historic Royal Palaces said: “We are unveiling the new uniforms now in time for the Coronation. They will have the new King’s cypher, but we can confirm the rest of the uniform looks exactly the same.” The original Tudor guard was split into two categories: the ordinary (i.e., permanent) guard and the additional troops of the extraordinary. In 1550, for example, the ordinary mustered 105 men, with an additional 300 extraordinary yeomen. Until 1549, the guards at the Tower were numbered among the extraordinary but in that year were raised to the status of ordinary yeomen. There was a considerable wage difference between the two groups. In 1562, a yeoman of the ordinary received 16d per day, whereas an extraordinary yeoman was paid the same as a common infantryman (4d or 6d). In 1551, the ordinary was expanded to 200 men, of whom 100 were to be archers and 100 halberdiers, but these numbers were not maintained. Uniform at this time was a velvet coat trimmed with silver gilt, worn over armour. [14]beefˌeater, n.". OED Online. Oxford University Press. March 2016. The conjecture that sense 2 may have had some different origin, e.g. < buffet 'sideboard,' is historically baseless. No such form of the word as *buffetier exists; and beaufet, which has been cited as a phonetic link between buffet and beefeater, is merely an 18th century bad spelling, not so old as beef-eater.

The state dress has real golden thread embroidery and is the highly recognisable clothing seen on Beefeater gin bottles. The State dress will be worn at the coronation of King Charles III next month as the Yeoman Warders will be involved in the ceremony. The new cypher for King Charles III which has been installed on the Jewel House at the Tower of London Credit: PA In 2018, there were 37 Yeomen Warders and one Chief Warder. [16] At one time, they were primarily guards but more recently, their role is mainly ceremonial; they have become greeters and guides for visitors, as part of their 21 duties. [17] [18] Officials wanted to ensure the uniforms of the Beefeaters were updated in time for the coronation and The Telegraph understands that all cyphers at the Tower of London, including at the sentry posts outside the Jewel House and the King’s House, have been updated, with the Yeoman Warder uniforms the last to change to that of King Charles III. Yeoman Warders will receive new uniforms emblazoned with the cypher of King Charles III after it was hoped the current outfits could be recycled to save money.

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All 32 of the Yeoman Warders live at the Tower of London, have served at least 22 years in the military with distinguished records and their traditional role is to guard the Crown Jewels and protect the monarch. In modern times their role has become more ceremonial but they remain a military unit. The Yeomen Warders of His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress the Tower of London, and Members of the Sovereign's Body Guard of the Yeoman Guard Extraordinary, popularly known as the Beefeaters, are ceremonial guardians of the Tower of London. In principle they are responsible for looking after any prisoners in the Tower and safeguarding the British crown jewels. They have also conducted guided tours of the Tower since the Victorian era. The State dress uniforms of Yeomen of the Guard are almost identical to those of the Yeomen Warders, but the Yeomen of the Guard can be distinguished by their cross belts worn from the left shoulder.