One of the crows at the Tower of London, the conspiracy of birds whose fate is related to Britain, is missing and feared dead, the royal palace said on Thursday.
“We have some really unfortunate news to share,” announced Torre on its website, referring to the missing corvid as “Queen of the Ravens of the Tower”. “Our beloved crow Merlina has not been seen in the Tower for several weeks, and her continued absence indicates to us that she may have passed away sadly.”
Crows are native to the area and can grow more than 60 centimeters in length with a wingspan of up to 51 inches. According to folklore, if there are less than six crows left to guard the tower, both the kingdom and the country will collapse.
But Yeoman Warder Ravenmaster Chris Skaife, who cares for the birds, assured concerned Britons already affected by the coronavirus pandemic and Brexit divorce that the nation was safe – for now.
“Obviously, as a master of crows, my concern is to take care of the kingdom,” he told BBC radio.
“But we have seven crows here in the Tower of London, six by royal decree and, of course, I still have a spare, so we are fine for the moment.”
The decree, supposedly issued in the 17th century, stated that there should be six at the same time. The tower’s website notes that the master of crows trims the flight feathers of large black birds “to encourage them to stay in the Tower”.
Skaife told AFP in an interview in October last year that he usually keeps two as “spares”, “just in case”, and that Merlina was his favorite.
Merlina, described by the tower as the “undisputed ruler of the perch”, was last seen in the historic palace by the River Thames several weeks ago.
Photo by TOLGA AKMEN / AFP via Getty Images
“Just before Christmas, before we went into confinement, we were putting the crows to bed and she didn’t come back,” said Skaife.
He described Merlina as a “free-spirited raven who, on many occasions, left the Tower enclosures”.
However, he added, “she usually comes back to us, but this time she hasn’t, so I’m afraid she is no longer with us.”
Merlina has become a favorite of the internet due to Skaife’s frequent posts and videos on her Instagram and Twitter accounts, which have more than 120,000 followers.
The seven remaining crows in captivity at the Tower are Poppy, Erin, Jubilee, Rocky, Harris, Gripp and George. The tower’s website notes that crows are intelligent birds with distinct personalities that can mimic sounds, play games and solve problems.
Skaife, a former sergeant and drummer in the Royal Princess of Wales Regiment, faced an unprecedented challenge to entertain the Tower’s celebrated avian residents during last year’s coronavirus blockades.
The birds suddenly found themselves with no one to play with – or steal food. He feared that birds would fly to try to find food elsewhere.
Photo by TOLGA AKMEN / AFP via Getty Images