After being battered by the coronavirus pandemic and Brexit deal, United
Kingdom received its third blow as it was struck by a sinister premonition.

The Tower of London has fallen short of one of its ‘guardians’ as
Merlina, one of the ravens, is missing and feared to be dead, the Royal Palace
said on Thursday, AFP reported.

“We have some really unhappy news to share,” the Tower of
London wrote on Twitter.

“Our much-loved raven Merlina has not been seen at the Tower for
several weeks, and her continued absence indicates to us that she may have
sadly passed away,” it added.

Merlina, described by the Tower as the ‘undisputed ruler of the roost’, was
last seen at the historic palace by the River Thames several weeks ago.

As the legend goes, if there are fewer than six ravens left to guard the
Tower, the kingdom and the Tower of London will collapse.

But Yeoman Warder Ravenmaster Chris Skaife, who looks after the birds,
assured worried Britons, already battered by the coronavirus pandemic and the Brexit
divorce, that the nation was safe — for now.

“Obviously, as the ravenmaster, my concern is looking after the
kingdom,” he told BBC radio.

“But we do have seven ravens here at the Tower of London, six by
royal decree and of course I still have a spare one, so we’re OK at the
moment.”

There seven remaining ravens in captivity in the Tower are Poppy, Erin, Jubilee, Rocky, Harris, Gripp and George.

The decree, purportedly issued in the 17th century, stated there must be
six on site at any one time.

Merlina was not only the ravenmaster’s beloved, but adored by many people on the Internet from Skaife’s frequent posts and videos of her on Twitter and Instagram.

Skaife told AFP in an interview in October last year he usually keeps
two as ‘just in case’, and that Merlina was his favourite.

“Just before Christmas, before we went into the lockdown, we were
putting the ravens to bed, and she didn’t come back,” said Skaife.

The ravenmaster described Merlina as a “free-spirited raven that
has been known to leave the Tower precincts on many occasion”.

However, he added “she normally comes back to us, but this time she
didn’t so I do fear that she is not with us anymore”.

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Skaife, a former staff sergeant and drum major in the Princess of
Wales’s Royal Regiment, faced an unprecedented challenge entertaining the
Tower’s celebrated avian residents during the coronavirus lockdowns last year.

The birds suddenly found themselves struck with loneliness, with no one
to play with or rob food from. He raised fears the birds would fly away to try
to find food elsewhere.