Bobbies and Beefeaters - from the Perspective of a Small One

During my flight back to Maryland in August, I had a layover at London Heathrow's Terminal 3, which has some of the best duty-free shopping and services in Europe.  Now that the glitches from Terminal 3's inauguration are thankfully things of the past, it is actually a pleasure to have a layover there.  Even with the sagging USD, there are some decent buys one can find there.

With three young grandbabies, I like to see what I might find there that is not too expensive, is typical of the UK and that might be something that they can actually use.  So, this time I was delighted to find cookie tins (or, in UK English, "biscuit" tins) designed to resemble some of the colorful guards and policeman that one can find in the UK.  Not only that, but they were selling at a discounted price.  I thought that once the contents had been enjoyed, my grandsons, Princes Tyger and Attani, would be able to store some of their small toys (Legos and Matchbox cars came to mind) inside.

One tin was designed to resemble a "Beefeater."  Beefeaters are known officially as "Yeomen Warders of Her Majesty’s Royal Palace and Fortress the Tower of London," or more simply as "Yeomen Warders," and are the ceremonial guards of the Tower of London.  Although the origin of the name "Beefeater" is not definitely known, it likely originated from the custom of paying them for their service in meats, including beef, mutton and veal.  Evidently, beef was the preferred ration.  My little Beefeater tin looked like this:

The other tin that I chose resembled a "Bobby," a British police officer, named after Sir Robert Peel, who created London's first security force.   My little Bobby tin looked like this:

As can be seen, each tin has a smiling face with a distinctive tall hat.  In each case, it was the tall hat that came off so that one could get to the shortbread biscuits inside.   One can also find these and similar tins on sale at Amazon in the UK.  But I got a better deal at Heathrow!

I asked Prince Tyger, still two at the time, which tin he wanted.  Unsurprisingly, the Tyger unhesitatingly went for the Beefeater.  Red seems to be a preferred color for him, as it is with many small children.

This meant that the Bobby would go to Prince Attani, who would, of course, not be able to enjoy any of the biscuits. He didn't have any teeth at the time and shortbread biscuits were not yet part of his menu.  Poor little Prince!

Prince Tyger was quite interested in his Beefeater.  So Grama sat down with her laptop to show him pictures of the real guards, as well as pictures of the Tower of London.  Prince Tyger was less impressed with the Tower, but remained fascinated by the guards.  Grama decided to push her luck and continued with showing Prince Tyger pictures of the real Bobbies.  Prince Tyger remained amazingly interested. 

Grama was quite gratified that her UK history and culture lessons were being properly absorbed until Prince Tyger asked, "Do they have cookies in their heads too?"

Down to earth in a second!  Grama has to remember who her audience is.