Visiting The Tower Of London and The Crown Jewels.

On our visit to London, 

My daughter Suzanne and

 I visited The Tower Of London.

The Tower has served as a prison,

 a fortress, royal residence, 

an armoury, and is presently home of the 

Royal Mint, Crown Jewels

and public record offices.  

The tower was founded in 1066 as

 part of the Norman Conquest of England. 

The White Tower was built by William The Conqueror 

in 1078, followed by several phases of expansion.

It has been besieged several times. 

The entrance is in a newer section.

`

The Tower Of London  ~ Photo from Wikipedia 

A historic Castle.

A complex of several buildings, 

a defensive wall and a moat.

We visited the "Crown Jewels".

There was a line-up

High security similar to airports.

No photos allowed inside.

The Crown Jewels contains

140 Royal ceremonial objects,

crowns, swords, trumpets, royal robes, 

ornaments, spurs, rings etc. 

A few of my favourites.

Queen Elizabeth 11 -Tiara 

(photos from Pinterest.) 

Princess Margaret's Persian Turquoise Tiara.

This crown contains over 6000 diamonds
King George V.

The Medieval St. Thomas Tower built mid 12th century.

Suzanne

Some fabrics used to decorated the medieval tower.

The Royal Mint

We walked outside and visited  all the Towers
A total of 21 towers.

Suzanne

A lot walking... and climbing

Ancient surroundings....

St. John's Chapel
This Chapel has survived completely, 
from the early Norman period 
~ mid 12th. Century~

Beautiful ancient architect...amazing!!

Incredible!

~Windows~

We were looking out this windows

when a funny thing happened.

A lot of tourists appeared below,

with a Tourist Guide.

The guide had all the tourist wave at us. LOL

 We were in the prisoner's chambers.

 ~Stained glass windows throughout the Towers~

 "Coat Of Arms" 

 A Poppy

Medieval narrow stone stairways

King Henry V111's armour

King Henry V111 was married 6 times.

His first marriage was annulled.

 and he married Anne Boleyn.

She became Queen Anne of England in 1553-56

 After a few years of marriage,

King Henry V111 wanted his 

 second marriage to Anne,

 annulled, to marry another woman, 

the Pope refused.

They were both excommunicated from 

the Catholic Church.

This was the beginning of the Church of England

breaking away from Rome and the church

being controlled by England, 

under King Henry V111.

(from Catholic to Protestant)

Meanwhile, King Henry had to find a reason

 to get rid of Anne, to marry wife no. 3.

Anne was charged with treason, and

 executed, beheaded in The Tower Of London.

During their marriage,

Anne Boleyn and King Henry V111 

had a daughter together and 

she became Queen Elizabeth 1 

In 1558. Eleven days after Anne's execution,

King Henry married his 3rd. wife, Jane Seymour.

Jane, died of complications from childbirth. She

had son, who later became King, Edward V1. -1547 

King Henry's 4th wife was also

beheaded in the Tower Of London. 

High up on a bridge to a Medieval Tower,
gives a great view of the Thames River and the Tower Bridge.
Suzanne took some photos.

The view below.

The Shard. 
The tallest skyscraper in London.

In the afternoon, 

we visited the Tower Bridge nearby

and did the Thames River Cruise.
(one of my previous blogs.)

There's a lot of history here.
I really enjoyed visiting and
learned so much about the British monarchy
 and this incredible city of London.

Thanks for your visit xo.

To view more of our London trip, click on

Visiting London and Travel Tips

also...
London Tower Bridge and Thames River Cruise.