Card, invitation card

The Tower of London was home to a Royal Menagerie for over six hundred years, and by 1828 there were more than sixty species of animal on public display. The royal beasts including lions, tigers, snakes, elephants, baboons, held in Lion Tower, were one of London's greatest attractions. With the decline of the menagerie from the 1820s, the animals were dispersed with some transferring to London Zoo, in Regents Park. This invitation, dated over 20 years since the menagerie finally closed in 1835, refers to an April fools' prank that had fooled Londoners since the 17th century. Dawk’s Newletter reported in 1698 that ‘yesterday being the first of April, several persons were sent to the Tower Ditch to see the Lions washed.’ The prank persisted long into the 19th century and according to Chamber’s Book of Days (1863), was remembered as ‘highly successful’ with a host of cabs descending on Tower Hill in search of the still non-existent White Gate.'