Royal rowbarge Gloriana leads Thames Tudor Pull

Each spring a number of traditional cutters are rowed from Hampton Court Palace to the Tower of London to escort a ceremonial token which is delivered to the governor of the Tower for safekeeping.

The Tudor Pull promotes the use of the River Thames and commemorates the events of 1256 when Queen Eleanor's royal barge sank under the old London Bridge with the loss of one of her courtiers.

The Gloriana was accompanied by traditional oar-powered watermen's cutters belonging to the livery companies of the City of London dressed in their full company regalia, the Royal Shallop The Jubilant, the Watermen's Shallop Lady Mayoress and by other craft from rowing clubs who preserve the sport of fixed seat rowing on the River Thames.

The Tudor Pull is normally held annually but did not take place in 2012 because of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee River Pageant.

The 2011 event was used as a rehearsal for some aspects of the Jubilee pageant.