Ceremony of the Keys

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Ceremonies known as the Ceremony of the Keys are held in at least two locations in the United Kingdom: London, and Edinburgh, as well as Gibraltar.

[edit] London

Probably the best known such ceremony is the one that takes place every night at the Tower of London, and has done so in some form or another since the 14th century. Just before 10pm, the Chief Warder, dressed in Tudor period uniform, meets the Escort of the Key, made up of men of the guard detachment. Together, they secure the main gates of the Tower. Upon their return to the Bloody Tower archway, the party is halted by the sentry and challenged to identify themselves:

Sentry: Who comes there?

Chief Warder: The keys.

S: Whose keys?

CW: Queen Elizabeth's keys. (identifying the keys as being those of the British monarch as of 2007)

S: Pass Queen Elizabeth's Keys. All's well.

Following this, the party makes its way into the fortress, where the guard presents arms, and the Chief Warder raises his hat, proclaiming:

CW: God preserve Queen Elizabeth.

S: Amen!

He then takes the keys in for safekeeping, while the Last Post is sounded.

As with many events of ceremony in the United Kingdom, it takes some significant outside influence to interrupt the Ceremony of the Keys. The one time when the ceremony was interrupted was during the Second World War, when there was an air raid on London, and a number of incendiary bombs fell on the old victorian guardroom just as the Chief Yeoman Warder and the escort were coming through the Bloody Tower archway. The shock and the noise of the bombs falling blew over the escort and the Chief Yeoman Warder, but they stood up, dusted themselves down, and carried on. The Tower holds a letter from the Officer of the Guard apologising to King George VI that the ceremony was late and a reply from the King which says that the Officer is not to be punished as it was due to enemy action that the Ceremony of the Keys was late.

The Ceremony of The Keys was also delayed in 2003 by a young officer of the Grenadier Guards serving on a gap year commission who fell asleep at his post whilst acting as Escort of the Key.

[edit] Edinburgh

There is also a Ceremony of the Keys held in Holyrood Palace, at the start of the British monarch's week-long residence there in July. Soon after the monarch's arrival, in the forecourt of the Palace, the Queen or King is symbolically offered the keys to the city of Edinburgh by the Lord Provost. The monarch returns the keys, saying:

I return these keys, being perfectly convinced that they cannot be placed in better hands than those of the Lord Provost and Councillors of my good City of Edinburgh.

[edit] Gibraltar

The Ceremony of the Keys event is a re-enactment of the locking of the gates to the old Town and garrison of Gibraltar.

During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the sea came up to the defensive walls and there were four outer gates through which the town could be entered. Four keys locked these entrances to the town. The ceremony’s origins date from the Great Siege of Gibraltar, which started in 1779 when French and Spanish troops attempted to capture Gibraltar. The keys were kept by the Governor who would hand them to the Port (Gate) Sergeant each evening at sunset, so that the four land entrances could be locked shut. The Gate Sergeant with an escort consisting of several armed soldiers, fife and drums would then march to each of the four gates in turn. He would be challenged by the sentry at the gate with the same words as used in London. Once all the gates were locked, the keys would be returned to the Governor at the Convent. In the Morning, the Port Sergeant would once again collect the keys to open the town.

During the Great Siege, the Governor, General Sir George Augustus Elliot, reputedly would carry the keys with him everywhere; it was rumoured he slept with them under his pillow at night.

The ceremony was reinstituted in 1933 and is currently performed twice a year (in April and October) by the Royal Gibraltar Regiment and visiting British units and bands. In the modern version of the ceremony, at the firing of the sunset gun, the Governor of Gibraltar symbolically hands the keys of the fortress to the Port Sergeant. The Port Sergeant, accompanied by an armed escort, marches away to symbolically lock the gates of the fortress for the night before returning the keys to the Governor. The party is also accompanied by drums and fifes, to sound a warning for aliens to leave the colony before the gates are closed. The Ceremony is held only at one of the four gates, Grand Casemates Gates (the old Waterport Gates) at Casemates Square. At official dinners at the Governor's residence, the Keys are piped in by the Port Sergeant who hands them to the Governor declaring the fortress to be locked and safe, these are then placed on a cushion on the table where they remain during the meal.