Tower of London!!

The Tower of London was a beautiful way to spend the beginning of the day. Seeing a castle in real life for the first time was amazing because my brain never fully comprehended that they were real. I learned about many different armors, the royal beast, executions, and prisoners. There was so much to look at and I would love to go back one day to see it all.

Lady Jane Grey was a prisoner of the Tower of London I learned about. She was the great-granddaughter of Henry VII and a first cousin once removed of Edward VI. She was one of the most learned women of her day. When Edward VI wrote his will, he nominated Jane and her male heirs as successors to the crown, Because his sister Mary was Catholic and Jane was a committed Protestant who would support the reformed Church of England, which Edward helped bring to life. After Edward’s death, Jane was proclaimed queen for 9 days. Support for Mary grew and Jane’s supporters abandoned her, so Mary was proclaimed queen. Soon after, Jane’s father-in-law was accused of treason and Jane was held prisoner in the tower. As she was seen as a threat to the crown, Mary sentenced Jane to death and she was executed. She was only 16 or 17 years old.

On that gloomy note, I nevertheless had a great time running around with everyone to all of the different parts of the castle. My favorite moment was definitely when we were climbing the stairs to a bridge and I looked down and saw a giant crowd of people staring at our group and laughing. I didn’t know what was happening but Alex said “Hurry, run” so we did, but Amelia stayed and waved at the crowd and became a queen. Another thing I noticed is that there are a lot of animal statues, specifically monkey ones, in London. I first saw them at the Tower but I’ve been seeing them everywhere since. Is there a reason or do Londoners just really like monkeys?