There is a prophecy tied to the Tower of London that has never been tested — and the British government would rather keep it that way. It says that if the ravens ever leave the Tower, the Crown will fall and Britain with it. So the Crown keeps the ravens. Six of them, at minimum, at all times, by royal decree.
It sounds like the kind of thing invented to put on a souvenir tea towel. But the tradition behind the ravens of the Tower of London is real, it is centuries old, and it is taken seriously enough that the British Crown still employs a full-time Raven Master to care for the birds today.
A Royal Decree That Has Never Been Revoked
The story begins in the reign of King Charles II. His Royal Astronomer, John Flamsteed, complained that ravens roosting at the Tower were blocking the view from the Royal Observatory and interfering with his work. He wanted them removed. Charles refused.
The king had heard the old prophecy — that if the ravens of the Tower should ever leave, the White Tower would crumble and the kingdom fall. He was not prepared to test whether the legend was true. Instead, he issued a royal decree: at least six ravens must be kept at the Tower of London at all times.
That decree has never been revoked. Nearly 350 years later, it still stands. The ravens are still there. Britain, so far, has not fallen.
Flamsteed, for his part, eventually built his observatory elsewhere. The ravens stayed.
The Man Whose Job Is to Keep Britain Safe
The Raven Master is a Yeoman Warder — one of the ceremonial guards who have served at the Tower since the 15th century. The role of Raven Master is one of the most peculiar positions in the entire British royal establishment.
The job involves feeding each bird around 170 grams of raw meat every day, along with bird biscuits soaked in blood and, occasionally, a whole rabbit — fur and all. It is not a glamorous diet, but ravens are not glamorous birds. They are intelligent, calculating, and entirely indifferent to human opinion of them.
The Raven Master knows each bird individually. Ravens form social bonds, hold grudges, recognise human faces, and have distinct personalities. One raven named George was dismissed from service in 1986. The official Tower records state the reason as “conduct unbecoming.” He had developed a habit of eating television aerials belonging to a nearby pub.
Ravens in service are given names and official records. They are registered with the Tower. Their service history is kept on file. In a building that has housed kings, traitors, and the Crown Jewels, the ravens have their own bureaucratic paperwork.
How the Ravens Almost Disappeared in Wartime
During the Second World War, the Tower was largely closed to the public. The Blitz battered London night after night, and the ravens did not escape the disruption. By the end of the war, there was only one raven left at the Tower — a bird named Grip.
Winston Churchill, who had somewhat larger problems to deal with, gave the order that the raven numbers must be replenished immediately. New birds were sourced. The prophecy, everyone seemed to quietly agree, was not the kind of thing to leave half-observed while the country was already under strain.
The story has since become part of the Tower’s wartime mythology. Britain had survived the Blitz. The last thing it needed was to tempt fate over a bird shortage. The numbers were restored, and the tradition carried on without further interruption.
What Life Is Really Like for a Tower Raven
Current and recent Tower ravens have included Jubilee, Harris, Gripp, Rocky, Erin, Poppy, and Georgie. Each one has a service record. When a raven retires — through age or poor health — it moves to a wildlife sanctuary rather than being released into the wild.
Ravens are long-lived birds. In the wild, they typically reach around 15 years. With regular food and veterinary care at the Tower, some have lived well into their twenties. The oldest raven in recorded Tower history, a bird called Jim Crow, reportedly served for 44 years.
Their wings are not removed, but clipped on one side. This throws off their balance enough to prevent them flying any distance. It does not, however, prevent them from strutting freely across the Tower grounds with the absolute confidence of birds that know they are indispensable to the nation.
Visitors encounter them regularly on the cobblestones near the White Tower, particularly in the morning before the main crowds arrive. They have the unhurried manner of creatures that have been there far longer than the tourists, and fully expect to still be there long after.
The Tower Holds More History Than Most People Realise
The ravens are one strand of a much larger story at the Tower of London. The building itself has served as a royal palace, a prison, an armoury, a treasury, and a zoo — all at different points in its 1,000-year history. Most visitors come for the Crown Jewels, which are genuinely spectacular. But the layers of history tucked into every corner of the grounds reward slow, attentive looking.
The Tower connects to a wider royal London that is easy to miss if you follow the standard tourist route. The Royal Palace Hidden Inside Kew Gardens, for instance, tells one of the strangest and saddest stories in British royal history — a small, red-brick house that reveals what happened when a king lost his mind and a family tried to hold itself together. If you enjoy royal history with real human weight to it, it is well worth seeking out.
For those planning their first visit to London, or trying to decide how to structure a limited number of days, the London planning guide on this site covers the essential decisions — where to stay, what to prioritise, which attractions are worth queueing for and which are not. The Tower, for the record, is worth queueing for. Arrive early, go straight to the Crown Jewels before the crowds build, and save the Tower grounds — and the ravens — for after.
If you want to see London beyond the landmarks, the London 3-Day Itinerary on this site includes a mix of famous sites and lesser-known corners that most visitors never find. It is a useful framework if you only have a long weekend and want to leave feeling like you actually understood the city rather than simply walked through it.
When to Visit the Tower
The Tower of London opens daily, with the ravens typically most active in the morning. That is the best time to see them moving around the grounds, before the noise and movement of a full crowd settles in.
The Raven Master usually conducts a brief daily session where he moves the ravens between their enclosures near the Waterloo Block and the grounds of the White Tower. If you catch this moment, it is one of the quieter, more unusual things you will see at any tourist attraction in Britain.
Tickets for the Tower of London should be booked in advance, particularly in summer. The Crown Jewels queue moves slowly, and the armour galleries can get busy. But the ravens are always there, always free to observe, and always doing exactly what they have been doing for the past 350 years.
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Every time you stand at the base of the White Tower and look up, somewhere in that ancient fortress the ravens are watching back. They have been there for three centuries. Whatever Britain faces next, the plan — as it has always been — is to keep them there.