7:29 am
July 9, 2009
I can confirm that the Roses were delivered last year, if you have a look at “Anne's final resting place” you can see them, its on the main Paige. This is something that interested me to visit the Tower last year, to see if this was true. I was in the first tour group allowed into St Peter ad Vincula and the Roses were already there. I talked to one of the Beefeater's, I asked who sent them? His reply was that they know the florist but not who sends them and that they arrive first thing on the 19th of May every year. I asked for how many years have they come? He said that the Sergeant at Arms was in the Tower for 25 years, every year in his memory and for many years before, for as long as anyone can remember.
There is a theory that it is the Butlers of Ormonde that send them,or a distant relation of the Boleyn's and it is possible that they could visit the forum. I am sure that this forum has many secret visitors!
If it was not this, then it would be something else?
I spoke to the Chief Yeoman Warder and he said that the roses have been delivered every year while he's been there and John who was with us that day (our Henry VIII actor from the Henry VIII Show) said that they've been delivered for over 40 years. The Chief Yeoman Warder said that they come by courier and if the press try to intercede and question the courier then the courier has instructions to just leave and go back later when the press have gone. When the Tower tried to trace where the roses came from they got as far as finding out that they are ordered by lawyers and that they are paid for from a bequest. I wonder if they come from a member of the royal family seeing as they trace back to Mary Boleyn through the Careys/Knollys. I don't think I want to know who sends them, I love the mystery and it's such a wonderful tradition.
Debunking the myths about Anne Boleyn