VIP Tower of London: After Hours Tour with Beefeater & Ceremony of the Keys

Great night tour by Gary (Yeoman Warder)! Great perspective of the overall history and key events. We were fortunate to also have some VIPs in attendance, which meant that the Constable (General Messenger) was also in attendance for the Ceremony of the Keys (he gave his perspective on the significance of the Ceremony). Great tour overall! Highly recommended!

It was pretty spectacular. Though we brought our 9 yo who was a bit bored, unfortunately. So age is a factor. We would have liked to have seen more of the ceremony given the price tag (there were a lot of people so we were in the back). That said it was a once in a lifetime! Glad we did it!

Yeoman Gary took us on an informative and emotional tour of The Tower. The hour tour prior to The Key Ceremony was filled with historical information, opportunities to take photos and friendly banter with the tour participants. Yeoman Gary clearly explained the history of The Key Ceremony and the protocols the tour group needed to adhere to once it began. The silence of the tour group, the echo of the guards marching along the cobblestones as they escort the Chief Yeoman Warder as he locked the gates of The Tower and then the playing of The Last Post amidst the beautifully lit Tower raises the hairs on the back of your neck. A truly emotional experience!

We had a special Keys tour on a super cold night of the Tower of London by Beefeater Tom. It seemed other tour groups were there but we seemed to get super special treatment because Tom the Beefeater was our guide. He was super easy to hear and very very knowledgeable. Although some of the stories were morbid (lots of rolling heads), :) it was a really cool tour and highly recommended. Only caution is to dress warm this time of year. The entire tour was outside and on this particular Saturday Night it was very cold and windy! Tom was great though, and fascinating, had a lot of personable and informative stories and we really enjoyed it!