Two new residents will be waiting for visitors to the Tower of London this month – but one of them needs a name!
The famous group of ravens has expanded in recent weeks, with the hatching of two raven chicks, ensuring that that seven-strong group should never fulfil the prophecy of leaving the Tower – and the kingdom subsequently falling!
For the third year in a row, the Tower of London’s breeding pair of ravens, Huginn and Muninn, have produced chicks: one male and one female.
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The two new raven chicks born at the Tower (© HRP)
Ravenmaster, Chris Skaife has already named the baby boy raven, Edgar, in honour of Edgar Allan Poe – celebrated poet and author of ‘The Raven’. But the female needs a name. People around the world are being invited to help choose it!
They will join a group of seven ravens, including Poppy and Georgie, meaning there are nine living at the Tower. Merlina – the Queen of the ravens – went missing in December.
A shortlist has been drawn up by the Ravenmaster, and the winning name will be announced when the Tower reopens on 19th May, in line with UK restrictions.
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Ravenmaster Chris Skaife has shortlisted six names to choose from for the newest arrival
The names shortlisted are:
- Matilda – after the fearsome medieval monarch, Empress Matilda; she battled her cousin, Stephen I, over her claim to the English throne in the 1130s and 40s.
- Branwen – after the deity from Celtic mythology, whose name translates as ‘Blessed Raven’.
- Brontë – after 19th-century literary legends the Brontë sisters, from Haworth, who authored some of Britain’s best-loved Gothic novels, including Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights.
- Winifred – after Winifred Maxwell, Countess of Nithsdale, remembered for plotting her husband Lord Nithsdale’s escape from the Tower in 1716 disguised as a woman.
- Florence – after Florence Nightingale, pioneering British nurse and social reformer, and namesake of the UK’s NHS Nightingale critical care hospitals during the Covid-19 pandemic.
You can vote for the name of your choice here.