Today it was the ‘Tudor Pull’. This is a Tudor ceremony which has continued over the years. It commences at 10.00am when the ‘Stela’ (a piece of ancient water pipe hollowed from a tree trunk) is escorted out of Hampton Court Palace and passed to the ‘Thames Watermen’. This is what Britain does best - a bit of pageantry and lots of great Tudor outfits! Although based on original Tudor traditions, nowadays the event is used to promote the use of the River Thames and to maintain the traditional of rowing on the river.
This is the Queen's Royal Barge - The Gloriana - which took pride of place and departed from the Hampton Court Landing Stage at the start of the processions journey downstream, all the way to the Tower of London, passing through Teddington Lock onto the tidal stretch of the river.
