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LONDON – Women faced their share of trouble at the Tower of London, including three queens who were beheaded there.
But treachery has long been considered a thing of the past at the notorious 11th-century fortress. At least until now.
If charges made Monday are true, the Tower – a popular tourist attraction and home to Britain’s Crown Jewels – will add bullying to the list of foul deeds committed there. The victim: the first woman selected to join the all-male ranks of the Tower’s yeoman warders, popularly known as “Beefeaters.”
Moira Cameron – a veteran of long military service – was named a warder at the Tower two years ago. Hers was supposed to be a happy story about how a bastion of male supremacy could become a place where women, too, could serve queen and country.
On Monday, embarrassed Tower officials conceded that Cameron had apparently been subjected to a campaign of bullying and harassment conducted by some of her resentful male colleagues. They said two male warders have been suspended and a third is under investigation for suspected harassment of Cameron.
A statement released by the Tower of London said harassment among its staff was “totally unacceptable” and that an internal investigation started last week as soon as the allegations were received.
The bullying allegations are an unpleasant wrinkle in what had been a generally popular move to bring women into traditionally male military roles.
The 35 warders, all ex-military personnel, guide visitors around the tourist attraction, which houses numerous items of incalculable historic value.
In the Tower’s earliest days, warders were used to monitor and occasionally torture high-profile prisoners kept in the Tower, which was founded by King William I in 1066. Its history includes the executions of queens Catherine Howard and Anne Boleyn, both wives of Henry VIII, and Lady Jane Grey.
They are called Beefeaters, mostly because of the extra rations of meat they were given during medieval times.
Their brightly colored Tudor-style uniforms are part of the picture-postcard London that often enchants visitors from around the world. Cameron’s introduction to the exclusive service went relatively smoothly, as far as the public could discern, but some tensions were present right from the start.
Cameron, with military experience both in Cyprus and Northern Ireland, said when her appointment was announced that some of her colleagues resented her presence.
“I’ve had some comments,” she said at the time. “I had one chap at the gate one day who said he was completely and utterly against me doing the job.”
Simmering tensions were kept behind the fortress walls until Monday, when the Sun newspaper reported that Cameron’s uniform had been defaced and that “nasty” notes had been left in her locker.
In addition, the newspaper said that Cameron’s entry in the online encyclopedia Wikipedia had been defaced as part of the campaign against her.
