-The Tower of London.

It's 2022, and this will be one of the most extraordinary times in its thousand-year history.

-Hooray!

-Hip-hip!

-Hooray!

-Torture?

Go down the stairs, to the left.

-It's already seen more famous events than anywhere else in Britain.

-Anne Boleyn got her head cut off.

-Guy Fawkes.

-And 42 monarchs... -William the Conqueror.

-King Henry VIII.

-Bloody Mary.

-...come and go.

[ Raven squawks ] Now with exclusive access, we meet the men and women keeping the Tower running during an incredible 12 months... -Someone asked if the Tower of London was a new build.

No, it's 1,000 years old.

-...as the Tower marks its first-ever Platinum Jubilee.

-We will never see a Platinum Jubilee again in our lifetime.

-...one of the saddest moments in its history... -The passing of Queen Elizabeth II.

-...and the proclamation of a new king.

-God preserve King Charles III!

[ Cannons fire ] -In this episode, we reveal the truth about Anne Boleyn's eyes and lips moving after her execution.

-People became hysterical and reported all sorts of strange occurrences.

-We discover if the newest raven chicks have settled into Tower life.

-They're always babies to me.

-And the Tower takes part in a rather strange ceremony.

-God preserve Queen Elizabeth!

-Welcome to the secret world of the Tower of London.

♪♪ It's April, and the Tower is celebrating the queen's birthday with a very special gun salute.

-Fire!

-Fire!

[ Cannon fires ] -The fortress performs more gun salutes than anywhere else in the country, and they commemorate a variety of events, from birthdays to coronations.

[ Cannon fires ] For deputy governor Debbie Whittingham, this one is extremely significant.

-Fire!

[ Cannon fires ] -This particular gun salute is a very special one for us at the Tower, because it's Her Majesty, the Queen's birthday, her real birthday -- 96 years of age today.

And it's the start of the Jubilee for us.

First gun salute of this year, really, to -- to get into the Jubilee.

-Number two!

-Number two!

-Fire!

-Fire!

[ Cannon fires ] -It's a huge privilege to be part of these celebrations.

We will never see a Platinum Jubilee again in our lifetime, a reign of 70 years.

And we are so proud to still be serving Her Majesty here at the Tower of London.

It's -- It's more than special.

-Number one!

-Number one!

-Fire!

-Fire!

[ Cannon fires ] [ Men shouts indistinctly, cheers and applause ] -The queen's not the only one celebrating an anniversary today.

A year ago, the Tower welcomed two new baby ravens, Branwen and Edgar.

-Hello, you two.

-In 2019, the Tower ran a two-year breeding program in the moat.

-Let's have a look at you.

Are you gonna behave yourself today, Edgar?

-Four chicks were hatched and ravenmaster Chris Skaife kept two of them.

-Branwen and Edgar were born at the Tower of London, hatched at the Tower of London, so they belong here now.

-Chris has spent the last 12 months getting to know these two youngsters.

-Branwen and Edgar are completely different in their characters.

Branwen is quite a quiet, placid raven and is quite happy with her own company.

What's that?

What's that, then?

Whereas Edgar is much, much more vivacious and quite wild.

What's this, then?

-Chris became ravenmaster 11 years ago, and he's been using his experience to help Branwen and Edgar settle into Tower life.

-They have to find their feet and that takes years to actually do.

It's not something that happens overnight.

-Although the chicks are coming along nicely, Chris still keeps a fatherly eye on them.

-Until they start finding a -- a partner and start establishing themselves in the territories here within the walls of the Tower of London, they're always babies to me.

[ Raven squawks ] -The ravens are one of the most popular attractions at the Tower, perhaps second only to the world-famous Yeomen Warders, better known as Beefeaters.

They regale the crowds daily with centuries of Tower history.

One topic is particularly popular.

-The executioner would have to bring down the mighty ax, hopefully beheading his victim with one clean stroke.

Surprisingly, there are only seven prisoners who have lost their heads inside Tower walls.

Perhaps the most famous is Anne Boleyn.

Anne had failed to give Henry VIII a male heir, and he now wanted to get rid of her so he could marry again.

He even hired a French swordsman to do the deed.

-The scene is set.

Anne Boleyn is kneeling.

The executioner says to his assistant, "Go and fetch my sword."

In fact, he's hidden the sword behind him.

Anne Boleyn naturally leans forward and looks left.

He silently takes out the sword, and in one glittering arc, the head comes clean off.

-The execution of a queen of England had never happened before.

It sent shock waves through the realm, and even now, it remains one of the most hotly debated days in our history.

Historic Royal Palaces chief curator Tracy Borman is investigating the fateful events of the 19th of May 1536, when Anne Boleyn lost her head.

-This memorial commemorates the spot where she was beheaded.

It's a very popular site within the Tower today, but actually for many years, historians have believed that this might not be quite the spot where the executions took place.

-Legend has it that the site of the memorial dates back to the 1800s, when Queen Victoria visited the Tower and asked to see where Anne Boleyn was executed.

The Yeomen Warders thought a location just in front of the chapel on Tower Green seemed appropriate.

And the memorial was built there, cementing the myth.

Tracy's come to the Tower archives to see if she can get to the bottom of where Anne Boleyn's beheading actually took place.

-Executing a queen was unprecedented, so it all had to be documented very carefully indeed.

And Henry's own wishes had to be followed to the letter.

-Writing to the Constable of the Tower, Henry laid out his instructions for Anne's execution.

-He says, "Upon the Green within our Tower of London aforesaid, the head of the same Anne shall be caused to be cut off."

So Henry specifies that this is to take place on Tower Green.

-The Constable of the Tower set about constructing a great scaffold for the occasion.

Accounts from the time reveal more about its final position.

-A contemporary source offers a more detailed view of the scaffold's exact location, and it says here that it was built before the House of Ordnance.

This is a map from 1597, and it's believed to be the most accurate depiction of the Tudor Tower.

You can see here the massive House of Ordnance at the top, and outside it, there are these stacks of cannonballs.

-Today, Tower Green does not sit in front of the House of Ordnance -- the storehouse for arms and gunpowder -- where the constable ordered Anne's scaffold to be built.

But Henry VIII insisted that Anne be beheaded on Tower Green.

So where was Tower Green in 1536?

-This map also shows us how much the Tower has changed, because in Tudor times, the whole of the inner ward is taken up with Tower Green.

-Tracy thinks the map gives us a clue as to how both the constable and Henry got their way.

-So what this tells me is that the execution spot could have been outside the House of Ordnance and still be on Tower Green.

-With a better idea of where the spot might be, Tracy's found more evidence to help her pinpoint Anne's execution site once and for all.

-Well, I have here a near-contemporary source which shows the execution of Anne Boleyn, and mapping it out here, you can see here on the left is the White Tower.

And this building here -- Well, it can't be the chapel.

So it must be the old ordnance house, which we know once stood where the Waterloo Block does today.

-Both the written descriptions and the image from the time seem to confirm that Anne was executed on what is today known as the Broadwalk.

-In many ways, I think it makes much more sense that Anne's execution took place here.

It's on this broad parade ground right next to the iconic White Tower.

And I do think it's quite extraordinary that today, visitors just walk on by, completely unaware of the truly historic moment that took place right beneath their feet.

-Coming up, Rob and Debbie spot an impressive visitor at the Tower.

-Just admiring the view in... -Yeah.

-...in kind of envy, really.

-She's very smart.

-And Tracy discovers the grisly history behind London Bridge.

-Heads on spikes.

Traitors beheaded at the Tower.

♪♪ ♪♪ -For the 33 Yeoman Warders at the Tower, the fortress is more than just a place of work -- It's also their home.

-If you go around the eastern side and north side, you'll see where most of us live.

All our cars and washing hanging out.

-Living inside the Tower is a condition of the job.

And each Beefeater and their family are given their own accommodation in these ancient walls.

-You want to go and get your schoolbag, mate?

-Andy Shedden has been a Yeoman Warder for 15 years and lives in the Devereux Tower with his wife and two young children.

-Well, having a family at the Tower, mostly it's fun.

My kids get to live in their own castle, so it's fantastic, really.

They've been here since day one, from the first day they were born.

-Most of the work that the Yeoman Warders do isn't family-friendly.

-...where they were horribly tortured.

-When they're not scaring tourists with grisly stories, they're taking part in the Tower's formal ceremonies.

But there's one event where the children aren't just welcome -- They're the stars.

It's known as Beating the Bounds.

-The Beating the Bounds is a ceremony that's going to involve all the families, especially the kids.

-Beating the Bounds dates as far back as the 800s, when most people lived their lives in one area, or parish.

So knowing the boundaries of your community's land was vital.

Few people could read and maps were scarce.

So once a year, the children were marched around the outskirts of their parish by the local clergy.

They were armed with willow sticks, which they used to beat the boundary markers, firmly planting them in the children's memory.

Centuries on, the ceremony is still going, and it's the most raucous event at the Tower.

-It's nice, the fact that -- one of the few ceremonies around at the Tower now that involves the whole family.

Go give your mum a kiss.

And I know they're looking forward to getting out to beat some of the boundaries with the big sticks.

Right.

Love you.

Come on.

Arch, come on.

Come on, then, Sam.

-As well as the Yeoman Warders and their families, the fortress is also home to senior Tower officials.

Tucked in between the Byward Tower and Mint Street sits the home of Debbie Whittingham.

In 2017, she landed the prestigious job of the Tower's deputy governor, making her third in command of the fortress -- an appointment that was groundbreaking in more ways than one.

-I didn't think it would ever be possible because they've never had a female in this role, and they'd certainly never had a naval officer in this role in the uniform sense.

So I didn't really think my chances were that great.

-This isn't the first time Debbie has worked with the Tower in her career.

-One of the significant tours that I had in the Navy was being the assistant naval liaison officer in London, facilitating ship visits to London and to the Tower of London.

-Debbie helped ships from across the globe moor on the Thames.

She organized the cruise visits to London's most iconic sights, including the Tower.

-I was meeting a whole different group of people from all over the world, different nations, different foreign warships.

There's a picture here of not only bringing the ship in and welcoming the captain of the Brazilian ship, but also bringing him to the Tower to call on the resident governor.

-Seeing a ship berth across from the Tower brings back memories.

-One of the most wonderful things for me is to look out of the kitchen window, to see a ship arriving.

That really took me back some 20, 30 years.

To think that if someone had said to me all those years ago, "See that Tower over there?

You're gonna be living in there one day," you'd have just laughed.

-And today, Debbie is in luck.

Up on the roof of the Byward Tower, Yeoman Gaoler Rob Fuller, who is also ex-Navy, has spotted an impressive visitor.

-I'm just looking at a really sleek imperial Japanese ship who's just come through Tower Bridge with their Japanese ensign flying.

It looks the business.

-The J.S Kashima, a flagship training vessel of the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force, has moored up alongside the south bank of the Thames.

At almost 500 feet in length, it's quite the sight, and Debbie is joining Rob for a better look.

-Morning, Mr.

Fuller.

-Ah, morning, Debbie.

-I was looking out the window and saw you up here, looking dreamily across at that beast.

-Well, I was just admiring the view in... -Yeah.

-...in kind of envy, really.

-She's very smart.

-Over a 34-year naval career touring the world, traveling to places like the Falklands and Gibraltar, seeing the J.S.

Kashima reminds him of the thrill of mooring in a foreign city.

-Have to pinch yourself, how lucky we were... -Yeah.

-...to get to serve all those years.

And then we're here at the Tower -- equally as exciting.

It's fantastic.

-The J.S.

Kashima is in the middle of a tour, circumnavigating the globe in just five months.

On board, Commander Komuta oversees a crew of 300, including 116 newly graduated young cadets.

He's enjoying one of the best views of London, docked in the heart of the city.

♪♪ ♪♪ [ Band playing ] The ship is due to depart for the U.S.

later today, but there's just time for the cadets' brass band to play the national anthem in honor of its host city.

[ "God Save the Queen" plays ] ♪♪ ♪♪ Japanese warships aside, today, the stretch of the river in front of the Tower is relatively quiet.

But turn back the clock 400 years, and it was a different story.

Historic Royal Palaces chief curator Tracy Borman has come to the Thames riverfront to get a better idea of just how different the area would have been.

-This stretch of the Thames would have been chock-full of trading vessels from all over the world -- the Piccadilly Circus of its day.

And dominating the entire skyline would have been the Tower of London.

-Just 500 miles west of the Tower was another impressive structure -- Old London Bridge.

Finished in 1209, it was the only London crossing along the River Thames for over 600 years.

19 narrow stone arches supported the carriageway of the bridge, which was packed with hundreds of shops, houses, and churches.

-The Tower left its mark on London Bridge, too.

Just here towards the bottom of the illustration, you can see a rather grisly spectacle -- heads on spikes.

They are the heads of traitors beheaded at the Tower, and they were put here on London Bridge as a warning to the thousands of people who passed over and under the bridge -- Do not cross the king.

-By the 1800s, London's population had ballooned to over 5 million, and having one bridge to serve the city was not enough.

So the Victorians embarked upon an ambitious building project.

-Another bridge over the Thames was planned, one that would service both people and vehicles, as well as allowing the larger trading vessels to access London's ports and beyond.

But for the first time in its history, what this meant is that the imposing fortress was now threatened with being dwarfed by another structure -- Tower Bridge.

-Work began on the ornate Gothic-style Tower Bridge in 1886.

The colossal structure features two 200-feet towers rising to over twice the height of the Norman White Tower.

Tracy has come up to the bridge's walkway, suspended between the Towers, for a better look at how these two titans of the Thames co-existed.

-Wow.

The views from up here are just incredible.

I've never seen the Tower from this angle.

And you can see right in over the kind of outer curtain walls.

-The Tower had been London's foremost defensive military stronghold for nine centuries, and the brand-new bridge didn't go down well with the fortress' bosses.

-It's believed that senior military figures inside the Tower grew really concerned, because you get a bird's-eye view of the Tower from up here.

It would be easy to fire on the fortress.

So the powers that be actually considered building a new vantage point at the Tower so that they could retaliate if need be.

-100 feet below, on the road beneath the bridge, Tracy has arranged to meet up with Tower Bridge exhibition manager Dirk Bennett... -Hi, Dirk.

Tracy.

-Hello, Tracy.

-Very nice to meet you.

-Nice to meet you, too.

-...to find out more about how this iconic landmark was built.

-We had between 400-plus and 800-plus workers working at any one time during the eight years of its construction.

-The contract for its design was won by architect Horace Jones, who created an ingenious bridge that could be raised by counterweights, allowing tall ships to pass through.

-What was so good about his design?

-Opening the bridge and closing the bridge was a matter of minutes... -Right.

-...and at the same time allowing traffic to go across.

And in principle, that's how the bridge still works to -- until today... -Yeah.

-...over 125 years later.

-Although the bridge's engineering was ahead of its time, its look was anything but... thanks to the Tower, which insisted on signing off the design.

-Given that it was cutting-edge technology, it looks quite historic, doesn't it?

-Yeah.

One of the aims was to make it blend in, historic appearance to blend in with it, with the Tower.

-These days, state-of-the-art Victorian engineering has been replaced with modern computer technology, and hoping to catch this groundbreaking bridge in action, Tracy has one final stop -- the control room.

-Tower Bridge radio.

-We're just leaving Tower Pier now.

We're gonna go and swim.

We'll be with you in just a few minutes.

-...where bridge-driving trainee Jon Stanley is about to put it through its paces.

-Well, I'm very excited to be here 'cause I've never seen the bridge raised.

And now I'm getting the best possible view.

-Yeah.

You are.

It's absolutely fantastic.

-More than 40,000 people cross Tower Bridge every day.

-This is a public announcement.

Bridge lift operation is about to commence.

Stand by, bridge staff.

Stopping road traffic.

-It is lifted about 800 times a year.

-I've just got to pull this towards me until it starts to crack.

-Ah, there it goes.

[ Ship horn blows ] -But today's ship is a standout.

After three days ashore in London, the J.S.

Kashima is setting sail for the next location on its grand world tour.

-And here it comes now.

-On board, the Japanese sailors bid farewell to the Tower, as ships have done for the last 1,000 years.

-Wow, look at that.

-That's amazing to see it coming through.

That is wonderful.

-The whole operation takes less than three minutes and it's back to business as usual.

-That's fantastic.

Thank you so much for showing me.

That's an experience I will never forget.

-No.

I'm glad you enjoyed it.

-Thank you.

♪♪ -Back inside the Tower, Yeoman Gaoler Rob Fuller and Chief Yeoman Warder Pete McGowan are finishing their shift for the afternoon.

But the day's not over yet.

This evening, they're going on a recce for a special event taking place in two days' time outside Tower walls -- an ancient procession called Beating the Bounds.

-Beating the Bounds is an old tradition, an old custom.

Been going for hundreds of years.

In actual fact, there's so many villages and small towns throughout the U.K.

that still do this, and not people know that.

-Every three years, the Tower's families and local children process along the Tower's official boundaries, which are set out by 31 markers on the ground.

At each marker, the children will wait for Pete to give them the command to memorize the boundary, with the age-old technique of hitting it with a stick.

-Stop here, I'll point over here, shout to the kids "Mark well."

"-Mark well."

The kids can... with their sticks.

We move off to the next one.

-Right.

-Most of the markers are located on the streets of Tower Hill, but one happens to fall inside the area's most exclusive establishment.

-Okay, then.

So I'll stop here.

Hey, Konstantin.

How are you doing?

-Very good.

Thank you.

Welcome to Four Seasons.

How are you today?

-Good to see you.

-Thank you.

Good to see you.

Please allow me to show you the mark.

-The luxury Four Seasons Hotel sits right on the edge of the Tower's boundaries.

A building has stood on this site since the 1600s.

It's said its location is the exact distance that an arrow would reach if shot from the Tower.

And a brass boundary marker can be found in the hotel lobby to this day.

-So our marker should be on that door... There it is.

-On the floor.

-Are you gonna have the doors open?

-Yes.

We're going to open the door and we'll have everything ready for you.

-Yeah.

The children will come with a big, long willow stick and they'll hit it a few times.

-Happy to have you here.

-Thank you very much, Konstantin.

-You're very welcome.

-Have a good day.

-Thank you.

Bye-bye.

-Take care.

-Coming up... what happened to Anne Boleyn after her death?

Tracy gets to the bottom of a 500-year-old royal rumor.

-That's fascinating because there are so many myths and legends surrounding Anne and her execution.

-And the Beefeaters come together for the Tower's oddest ritual.

-All we're doing is letting everyone know out there that these bounds are our bounds, the Tower of London.

♪♪ -At the Tower, the Yeomen Warders are out on the beat and greeting the expectant crowds.

-There we are.

-Thank you.

-It's a pleasure.

-We do live in a great city.

-Oh, yeah.

Thank you.

-Don't lose that photo.

It's the most important one you'll ever take.

[ Woman laughs ] -But there's one story in particular that always draws the most attention -- the execution of Anne Boleyn by a French swordsman in 1536.

-Anne Boleyn's head comes off.

He grabs her by the hair and he picks it up.

The crowd lets out a huge gasp.

Her mouth is still moving in silent prayer and her eyes are still looking around.

She'd been killed so quickly she hadn't even realized that she was dead.

-The legend that the lips and eyes of Anne Boleyn's severed head kept moving has persisted for centuries.

Tracy is hoping to get to the bottom of this 500-year-old story.

-These extraordinary accounts seem quite unbelievable from a modern perspective.

But then this was Tudor England.

People didn't have the same grasp of science, and there were a thousand people there.

So it's easy to imagine how some of those people became hysterical and reported all sorts of strange occurrences.

What I want to do is find out if there was any truth in it.

-Tracy has come to Lancaster University to meet anatomist Adam Taylor... -Hi, Adam.

-Hi, Tracy.

Nice to meet you.

-...to discover if the myth could possibly be true.

-We've got the Anatomage Table here.

-Adam's high-tech anatomy table allows them to take a closer look at a cross-section of the neck to illustrate what might have happened to Anne Boleyn after she was executed.

-That's incredible.

-Anne's bloodstream would still have been full of oxygen at the exact moment of her beheading.

-So the key thing to remember when we think about activity of muscles is that they need oxygen to function.

So at the moment that cut's made, the last pump of blood has gone into there.

There's oxygen in that blood.

-The blood that was circulating around Anne Boleyn's head just before it was severed would have contained enough oxygen to keep her facial muscles moving... in theory, allowing her eyes to blink and her lips to move.

-It's not just immediate loss of consciousness and brain activity?

-No.

-But as well as oxygen, the muscles in Anne Boleyn's face also needed the brain and functioning nerves to control them.

-So these orangy-red structures are all the muscles that are either moving the eyes themselves, or are moving the lips and the mouth.

Those structures are controlled by the brain and the nerves.

Everything that we're interested in is contained in the head and neck regions.

-Although her head had been separated from her body for just a few seconds, it still contained everything necessary for her face to stay animated.

So the legend that her eyes and lips moved after her execution could actually be true.

-You know, the rumor is that she was praying, and therefore it would been entirely possible that she'd be able to continue doing that.

-There are so many myths and legends surrounding Anne and her execution.

To know that this is one that might have some truth in it is absolutely fantastic.

-Indeed.

Yes, absolutely.

[ Ominous music plays ] ♪♪ -Back at the fortress, it's the end of another day.

But for Chief Yeoman Warder Pete and his fellow Beefeaters, there's no time to relax.

-Then we're gonna go forward.

There's two markers to the left there.

-Tonight, the Tower will hold one of its most unusual ceremonies -- the Beating of the Bounds, where the Tower's community will reaffirm the Tower's parish boundaries by beating the ground with big sticks.

And with their willow wands in hand... -I'm holding it in the middle.

-If you please... -...the parade can begin.

-Tower of London Beating the Bounds procession, by the center, quick march!

♪♪ -It's rare for the Yeomen Warders to go outside the Tower in full ceremonial dress, and the traditional procession is attracting a lot of interest.

-It's completely strange 'cause when we walk out of here, there's a lot of people who don't know what's going on, but it's so funny because they all follow us.

All we're doing is letting everyone know out there that these bounds are our bounds, the Tower of London.

-The guests of the Four Seasons Hotel will be in no doubt where the Tower's boundaries lie as the children finally get their chance for a good beating of the parish marker.

-That's it.

Mark well!

A bit more of it.

We need more than that.

That's it.

Well done, children.

-And under Pete's expert guidance, the procession's on a roll.

-Now go to mark number 12.

Mark well!

-A scene familiar in the city for centuries.

-Process, if you please.

-The crowds come out to watch the rare sight of the Beefeaters at large in the city.

[ Horn honks ] It's a traffic-stopping spectacle.

[ Horns honking ] -It's definitely one of the more unusual Tower traditions, and something that's been transposed from hundreds of years ago into 21st-century London.

And so moving across all the traffic, threading our way through pedestrians, and trying to keep a procession together was -- was very, very interesting to do and quite fun.

-With the boundary markers now well and truly beaten, it's back inside the royal palace and fortress for one final duty.

-♪ Send her victorious ♪ ♪ Happy and glorious ♪ ♪ Long to reign over us ♪ ♪ God save the Queen ♪ -God preserve Queen Elizabeth!

-Amen!

-Amen!

-Thank you all very, very much indeed.

Thank every one of you.

Thank you.

-It was a really good Beating the Bounds today and the kids absolutely loved it.

-Kids in the front from side to side.

-The serious business of the day done, it's time for a family photograph, Tower-style.

-Give us a big smile.

That's it.

[ Camera shutter clicks ] -For the Beefeaters' children, it's a rare opportunity to go on parade with their dads.

-My daughter absolutely loved it, and she just liked being part of something with her daddy, to be perfectly honest.

That made her happy.

-Have a nice day.

-2022 is a big year for the Tower, as it gears up for the queen's Platinum Jubilee.

As a member of the royal bodyguard, there's a sense of anticipation amongst the Yeomen Warders.

-For us, the Jubilee is intimately involved with the Tower of London, so we're all tremendously excited about it and looking forward to the celebrations.

-As part of the commemorations, the Tower is planning a very special floral tribute.

Nestled in a corner of the moat that's usually used as the Yeomen Warders' bowling green will be a formal Queen's Garden -- an intimate and highly personal space to honor the queen's 70 years on the throne.

Tasked with designing this unique garden is landscape architect Andrew Grant.

Today he's meeting creative producer for Historic Royal Palaces, Eva Koch-Schulte, to share his ideas for its design.

-We were just trying to desperately figure out, how do we link it to the queen's coronation, and we found the coronation dress as this amazing sort of inspiration.

-Created in 1953 by royal designer Sir Norman Hartnell with the help of the queen herself, Hartnell's original sketches show the coronation gown with a riot of floral motifs packed with historic symbolism.

-All the Home Nations were represented in the different forms, and it seemed to us that that sort of gave us a fantastic starting point.

-As well as the Scottish thistle, English rose, Welsh leek, and Irish shamrock, the dress featured plants from across the Commonwealth, from the Canadian maple leaf to the New Zealand fern.

Andrew wants to reflect these plants in the Queen's Garden.

He's planning to craft them into handmade glass sculptures, which will be elevated on 12-foot-high poles.

-So from a distance, they almost become like flowers themselves, rising up there over the walls.

-Yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

-That's fantastic.

-And I think the final piece of the jigsaw was actually the crown, the big centerpiece right at the heart of the garden.

-A bespoke-made crown for the Queen's Garden -- That's amazing.

-To finalize the color scheme, there's nothing like looking at the real thing for inspiration.

So Eva and Andrew have come 13 miles down the River Thames to Hampton Court Palace to visit an extraordinary archive.

-This is one of these really special spaces here at Hampton Court Palace.

It's part of our collection store.

And you see reams and reams of historic clothing in there... -Wow.

How fantastic.

-...and historic textiles.

-The palace houses the Royal Ceremonial Dress Collection, which contains a staggering 10,000 items of historic clothing, from the battlefield jerkin of Charles I, to Princess Diana's dresses.

Eva and Andrew have been given exclusive access to a particularly special piece of memorabilia from the queen's coronation in 1953 to help refine their plans for the tribute garden.

-This is not the dress itself, but it's an embroidery sample that Norman Hartnell did when he and the queen decided on the exact colors and textures of things.

♪♪ -Let's have a look.

-Oh.

-Oh, wow.

Look at that.

-That is incredible.

-This coronation gown, on display at Windsor Castle, was one of a selection of eight dresses shown to the queen by British designer Norman Hartnell.

And just like the gown itself, this sample is made from duchess satin, with floral emblems encrusted with pearls, crystals, and sequins still as vivid today as ever.

-I mean, the instant thing that jumps out is just the sparkle, doesn't it?

It's just amazing.

-I didn't quite expect so much color.

-There's obviously the thistle, there's the maple leaf.

I'm actually quite surprised at how alive it is.

-Yeah, yeah.

-What a wonderful opportunity to see this.

I mean, this really is, like, a timeless inspiration in a way.

-Coming up... the Queen's Jubilee Garden is taking shape in the moat.

-It's amazing just to see how ideas that we thought about months ago are now put into this garden.

-Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!

-But will the crystal sculptures make it there in one piece?

-Ooh, stop!

Aah!

♪♪ -The Tower is creating a dedicated Queen's Garden in its former bowling green to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee.

A 35-ton crane has been brought in to lower hundreds of tons of building materials down onto the site... while horticultural expert Nigel Dunnett is bringing the garden to life.

-As soon as we've finished here, it will be a complete instant garden.

-The landscape design is based on the pastel color palette of the queen's 1953 coronation gown.

-We'll be having an ever-changing display of flowering plants set within gray- and silver-leaved foliage plants.

-The silvery hedges of English lavender frame the pale pink and yellow soft tones of the daylilies, hyacinths, and foxgloves, mirroring the gold beading and pearls of the coronation dress itself.

The centerpiece of the garden will be 12 elevated glass sculptures.

They'll reflect the floral motifs woven into Queen Elizabeth II's coronation dress, which represented the countries of which she was monarch at the time.

50 miles away, in his workshop in Kent, artist Max Jacquard and his team are producing these sculptures using the ancient method of glass casting.

-So you reckon we should go right all the way to the middle there?

-If you bring it down that far, it's all gonna bleed into the green.

-To make the cast, carefully selected and hand-cut pieces of colored glass are laid on top of a textured plaster mold.

They are gradually heated in a kiln to 800 degrees and then slowly cooled across three days.

-At the top temperature, the glass can achieve the consistency of honey, that sort of fluid quality, to be able to run out into all the areas of the mold.

-Once the flower sculptures have cooled, the plaster is carefully chipped and washed away... -Like archeology, you're slowly excavating and revealing your treasure.

-...to uncover the jewel-like glass motifs beneath... -Wow.

Let's have a look at it.

-...designed to echo the pearls and crystals from the coronation gown.

-Oh.

It's lovely.

-It just looks incredible.

-Back at the Tower, the landscaping and planting for the Queen's Garden has been completed.

And as dusk falls, the glass sculptures can be installed.

-Now we get to see how the colors work in this environment.

-For Andrew, the brains behind the design for the Queen's Garden, this is a particularly special moment.

-It's amazing just to see how ideas that we thought about months ago are now put into this garden.

-But getting the glass flowers into place is going to be incredibly risky.

The finished sculptures weigh between 22 and 45 kilograms and are very delicate.

And with the garden below now carefully planted, the only way to secure them on top of the poles is from above.

The team has come up with a cunning solution.

Landscaper Andy Sully, who's bravely volunteered to sit in a fabric harness.

-He's gonna take him up now.

-Okay.

-He is hoisted up by the crane and will gently maneuver each piece into place.

-Okay, here we go.

The first one's going in.

Yes.

There it goes.

-Yay!

-Yay!

-Oh, that looks nice.

-One down.

Only 11 more to go.

-Hold it there.

♪♪ -Seeing those colors is just amazing.

-But the biggest challenge is still to come.

-Come my way.

-The Queen's Garden centerpiece -- a crystal-and-gemstone replica of the queen's coronation crown, worth over £26,000.

-That's taken my breath away.

That's brilliant.

-Special.

Very special.

-We've got to get this right.

-Weighing in at 45 kilograms, the crown is too heavy to be carried, so it will have to be lifted across the garden by a second crane.

♪♪ -There she goes.

-The garden's showstopping centerpiece is now at the mercy of the wind and the crane operator's skill.

-I know we've planned this to the nth degree, but it's still absolutely terrifying.

-Take me up a little bit.

-As everyone holds their breath, the crown is inched into position.

-It's going in.

-Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!

-Whoa, whoa, whoa!

-Down!

-Careful.

Almost.

-Ooh.

Ooh, stop!

Aah!

-I need to go out a touch.

That's it.

Hold in there.

Right.

Slowly down.

Good.

Good speed.

-After four nerve-racking hours... -Good.

-...the final piece is safely in place.

-Yes!

Yes, yes!

-Wa-hey!

-Watching the crown being placed might have actually taken a few years off my life.

I've never been so nervous.

♪♪ -A few days later, the Queen's Jubilee Garden has settled in and the glass sculptures sparkle just as her coronation dress did seven decades ago.

♪♪ Next time, Chief Yeoman Warder Pete goes to Windsor Castle to meet the queen.

-Your Majesty, the Commonwealth of Nations' Globe.

-The Tower's bakers make a Jubilee cupcake inspired by the royal corgis.

-It has the face of a lovely dog, and it tastes amazing, also.

The visitors are gonna love this.

-And the Tower attempts the biggest gun salute in the country.

[ Cannons fire ] -We've witnessed some quite major state ceremony occasions, but this is probably gonna be the icing on the cake.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪