Ms Cameron will give guided tours
Posted on 01/11/2007 6:34:32 AM PST by yankeedame
Last Updated: Thursday, 11 January 2007, 13:10 GMT
The face of the Tower's first female beefeater revealed
Ms Cameron will give guided tours
The Tower of London's first female beefeater has joined her new colleagues publicly for the first time. Moira Cameron, 42, from Argyll in Scotland, said she was "immensely proud" to have secured the role which she will take up in July.
She appeared in her present warrant officer 2 uniform, but will be measured up for her £1,000 beefeater uniform when she starts the post.
Her job will involve giving guided tours and guarding the Crown Jewels.
In order to fulfil her role as tour guide Ms Cameron must learn all about the Tower's 900-year history.
"In more recent years I have started to get more interested in history and this is a fantastic place to learn, what a school.
"I'm looking forward to starting the job, meeting people at the gate, welcoming people into the Tower is all part and parcel," she said.
"I think that she will want to prove the point that she is equal to the opportunity given to her," Chief Yeoman Warder John Keohane.
Ms Cameron has spent the required 22 years serving in the forces and is currently a chief clerk in the Adjutant General's Corps in the 145 Brigade.
She fought off competition from five men for the honour of becoming the first female beefeater in 522 years.
Ms Cameron said would cope with working in a male orientated job the same way she had done in the Army.
"All the boys are ex-military so we are all singing from the same song sheet," she said.
In the role of yeoman warder she will earn about £20,000 a year and will have the use of a subsidised apartment in the Tower of London.
Oath of allegiance
Chief Yeoman Warder John Keohane said Ms Cameron would carry out her duties and role in exactly the same way as her male colleagues.
He explained that taking on their first woman beefeater reflected the changes to the role of women in the Army.
"Now women have maternity leave..they continue their role in the armed services so they are now able to meet all of our criteria, including 22 years service."
He also said he was confident she would be welcomed into the ranks by the other beefeaters.
The Beefeaters date back to 1485
"I think my colleagues are looking forward to a challenge and are more than happy to see her come here.
"I think that she will want to prove the point that she is equal to the opportunity given to her," he said.
New yeoman warders swear an oath of allegiance, that dates back to 1337, on Tower Green once the Tower has closed to the public.
After the ceremony the health of the new beefeater is traditionally toasted by the chief yeoman warder.
"She fought off competition from five men for the honour of becoming the first female beefeater in 522 years."
Poor guys...
"Oh the times, they are a-changin..."
"The face of the Tower's first female beefeater revealed"
There's enough joke material in that to get me banned for SEVEN lifetimes...........
Lewinsky pics?
How is she going to grow the obligatory gray whiskers?
FRANKly no, She's a comely lass isn't she?
lol !
Trivia ---- Beefeaters name came about because that is what the first guards were given in payment.
1. She fought off competition from five men for the honour of becoming the first female beefeater in 522 years.
Why did these five "men" want to be the first femail beefeater anyway?
2.
She looks like "The SuperNanny".
I wonder when she starts the hormone therapy to grow the beard?
Now you've done it. The "Barefoot, pregnant, and out of the military" neanderthals will be showing up any minute.
Very appropriate...Helen Thomas was probably one of the mistresses of Henry VIII.
So much for ancient tradition.
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