Quotes from The Tower of London book ...
I have a book which I bought at the Tower of London [Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London by Peter Hammond, giving details of why the Royal treasure is stored at the Tower of London: (and the Queen of England has to eat her breakfast out of a Tupperware bowl, according to the press in the UK, (The Sun newspaper) and I would dare to suppose that she would prefer a nice gold bowl that belonged to one of her ancestors, from which to eat her shredded wheat or Rice Crispies, and quite rightly so; as members of the public tramp past her closed living room door, snooping and peeping into her private life to raise revenue for the Treasury...
"Arsenal, Treasury and Mint"
The Royal Mint is now, by the way not at Tower Hill but in Llantrisant in South Wales. (aside)
ahem!
William Duke of Normandy was crowned King of England in Westminster Abbey, some two months after his victory over the Saxon King Harold at Hastings in 1066. He was the conqueror who built the Tower of London. It used to be a Royal palace and residence:
"A medieval castle, as well as being the stronghold and resident of its lord, was also the place that held his treasure, armoury and prisoners. The Tower, as a great royal castle adjoining London, the commercial capital, and near Westminster, which had become the seat of government, was a major centre of the power and wealth of English monarchs.
Following Edward I's expansion of the Tower, it soon came to contain one of the main royal treasuries, a storehouse for official documents, the largest of
the royal mints and the only one coining in gold as well as silver, and the chief arsenal in the kingdom, storing and assembling armaments for the royal armies and fleets. To speed the movement of supplies and afford storage and working space, the wharf was extended along the entire river front.
... From the later years of King Henry VIII's reign (1509-47) the Tower gradually went out of use as a royal palace as Whitehall became the monarch's usual London residence and the Tower's defences were allowed to decay ..."
The Crown Jewels ...
"The Tower of London was one of the chief treasuries of the medieval kings, and
some of the Crown Jewels were always kept there. The coronation regalia, however, which were regarded as the relics of St Edward (King Edward the Confessor, who ruled before the Norman Conquest) were kept at Westminster Abbey, where the royal saint was buried and coronations took place.
Following the execution of Charles I in 1649, Parliament ordered the coronation ornaments to be brought to the Tower, the precious metals to be melted down for coinage, and the gems sold off. Nevertheless, several of the old regalia, or parts of them, reappeared and were refashioned for use at Charles II's coronation in 1661. The lower half at least of the coronation crown itself was made up of a medieval crown, perhaps the crown of Edward the Confessor.
Later monarchs added to the regalia, most notably the Jewelled State Sword made for the coronation of George IV in 1821, and the Imperial State Crown with which Queen Victoria was crowned in 1837. The major gemstones set in the crown, however, had a much longer history, including a sapphire taken from the ring said to have been buried with Edward the Confessor in 1066, and the balas ruby presented to the Black Prince of Bordeaux in 1367.
As well as the coronation ornaments and robes, a number of historic crowns are displayed, including the Crown of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, which holds the legendary Koh-i-noor diamond.
The Jewel House also contains banqueting and church plate, state swords, processional maces and trumpets, the robes and insignia of the orders of chivalry, and decorations and medals.
[An illustrated guidebook to the Crown Jewels is on sale in the Tower shops]
The body of the eagle Ampulla is used to contain the holy oil with which the new monarch is anointed, and was made for Charles II's coronation in 1661, but the head can be dated to the fourteenth century ... etc.
Who owns the Crown Jewels then? Cromwellian people and their Government who no longer exist or do the Crown Jewels rightfully belong to the Royal family through inheritance as reigning monarchs?
I must need a brain transplant if I am going to be forced to believe the people own the crown jewels - how and why? Why aren't there law suits being made by those who claim to have a claim to them then? May be the Ravens own all the Jewels now since they have been resident at the Tower of London since it was first built by William Duke of Normandy who was crowned on Christmas Day in 1066.
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End of history lesson part I.