Crown Jewels

Congratulations on the end of your treatment! What a great way to celebrate.

I confess I have no idea about the Crown Jewels, but if you haven’t been to the Tower, you should go anyway. Take a tour with one of the Beefeaters. It’s a fascinating place with amazing history. I bet you’ll love it. To me, the Crown Jewels were the least interesting part of the tour. Of course, your interests might be different, but I still think the tour of the Tower is a highlight of a visit to London.

Not all of the crown jewels would be removed anyway. I do think that there is a high chance that you will see them all during the time of your trip. The collection is quite large. I would suggest going to the Tower. If you get there early when it opens, go straight to the crown jewels and you will probably have time to take the conveyor belt by them a few times. The Tower is extremely interesting in its own right.

The Historic Royal Palaces website allows you to view what's "on" at the Tower on any given dates. I've plugged in yours and the Crown Jewels came up as as being "on". Did you try the website?

https://www.hrp.org.uk/tower-of-london/whats-on/?types=1217&date=&from=19-11-2022&to=03-12-2022&palaces=1137&sortType=0&pageNumber=1

You don't need to google the question when there's a dedicated website!
Congrats on finishing your treatment, and warm wishes for a GREAT trip to London! :O)

Kathy, as I wrote in my question, the website has not been updated to reflect the Queen's death. It just says "Following the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, some of the information on this page may be out of date" which is not at all helpful. That's why I was asking here.

Sorry, but the official website is going to have more accurate information than guesses from members of this forum. The coronation isn’t until May, so I don’t see why the Crown Jewels wouldn’t be on display this winter.

Jennifer, please see what I wrote above.

The only items I saw on the Queen’s coffin during the funeral were the Imperial State Crown and the sceptre and orb which leaves a lot of other jewels to enjoy, including St. Edwards Crown, Queen Victoria’s crown and the Prince of Wales Coronet. I think the Imperial State Crown would have been returned to the Tower immediately following the funeral. St. Edward’s crown is the one used to coronate the King at the coronation, but because if it’s weight it is then changed for the slightly lighter Imperial State Crown. The crowns will be removed from display at some point as they will need to be prepared for the coronation but unlikely soon. are 142 items in the crown jewel collection, all housed in the Tower so I do not think you will be disappointed. Go to the Wikipedia entry to see listing of what is in the collection and the history behind them.

I think the note about information not being updated refers to the various articles on the Tower’s website where it talks about the Queen’s use of the various items. Maybe call the Towerwhen you get to London for updated info.

I was at the Tower of a London in late September and all of the Crown Jewels were back. On the Beefeater tour, the Guide conducting the tour said they were back on display right after the burial.

I agree with Stacy that the Crown Jewels are the least interesting part of a Tower visit. So much history! Anne Boleyn, Katherine Howard, and Lady Jane Grey are buried in St. Peter ad Vincula in the tower (among others, of course). It was incredibly moving to be in the presence of their resting places. I think you have to go in with a Beefeater tour to go in the church.

Definitely worth a visit, even without the crown jewels.

I was just at the Tower of London less than two weeks ago and the Crown Jewels were on display.

The Coronation won't take place for several months, so it would make sense to keep the Crown Jewels in the safest location, which is the Tower. Last time I was there, the Ghurkas were guarding them so you can be darn sure they were absolutely safe.

Sorry we didn't have the info you were looking for but as above, no one on the forum here is going to have any more accurate info than what's on the official website.

As mentioned, King Edward's and Imperial State Crowns + Crown of Queen Elizabeth will likely be resized at some point but I wouldn't guess within the next month or two. Only the people responsible for their upkeep would know, and there may be a note on the website when that occurs.

But I sure wouldn't skip the Tower even if a couple of the crowns are MIA! It's the 900-year history of the structure itself and its many, many stories that are the main reasons to go. For instance, I found the Beauchamp Tower and the inscriptions carved into its walls from long-ago prisoners, some of them of note, more interesting than the sparkly things. No photos allowed of those sparklies, BTW, and you'll be on a moving walkway that controls how much time you have for a look (apologies if you already know that). Anyway, the free Yeoman Warders' tours are interesting and fun so start your visit with one of these. All told, we spent abt. 5 hours exploring nooks and crannies of this UNESCO World Heritage treasure, although that's probably much more time than most visitors spend. LOL, I'm kind of a geek when it comes to stuff like this. :O)

I've just spoken to Historic Royal Palaces who have confirmed to me that the Crown Jewels taken out of the Tower of London for the funeral of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II have all been returned. For security reasons she could not confirm which items will be on display at which times, nor when the items will be removed prior to the Coronation.

I was at the Tower last week and we went to see the Crown Jewels first. Spectacular! I bought Tower tickets in advance online for opening time and we arrived early, which I recommend. There were only 5 people admitted before us. By the time we came out from seeing the jewels the line was already long and got longer as the day went on. We spent 6.5 hours at The Tower and we had been there before, although that was in 2006.

@Andrea - I was there in June 2019 and had the same experience (although I wasn't almost first in line). We did the jewels first and the line was astronomical by the time we left the building!

Nigel, how very kind of you to do that! I really appreciate your help with this (and also your posts about future rail strikes). Thank you so much!

Andrea, thank you so much for this information! I will definitely book tickets for their opening time and get there early.

Many thanks to lovetoTravel, Shulby524, MaryC, lanlubber, and Stacy for your very helpful comments!

Definitely go see the jewels first thing. We were there right at opening and made straight for the Crown Jewels. There was only a few other families there and we were able to ask one of the Yeoman Warders all sorts of questions about the jewels.(Yes, they are real-so he said). We were able to go around for about 10 minutes until more people came.

Very cool and if possible, I'd also recommend the Ceremony of the Keys-where the Tower is locked up at night.