Before Hess, the Tower hosted a rogue’s gallery of royalty, rebels, and religious martyrs. Princess Elizabeth (the future Queen Elizabeth I) spent two months under house arrest here in 1554, famously scratching “Much suspected, by me nothing proved” on a window with a diamond ring. Sir Walter Raleigh whiled away 13 years in a suite with his family and even planted tobacco in the Tower garden.
The most famous ghosts? Anne Boleyn, who was executed on Tower Green in 1536, and Lady Jane Grey, the nine-day queen. Hess, by contrast, arrived with a personal adjutant, a valet, and a copy of a book on homeopathy. His “cell” was actually a comfortable officer’s quarters in the Lieutenant’s Lodgings—more boutique hotel than dungeon.
Practical Tip: Visiting the Tower Today
If you want to stand where Hess slept, book a Yeoman Warder-led tour—they’re the only guides with access to the private apartments. Go on a weekday at 10:00 AM to avoid the school groups that flood the ravens’ enclosure by noon. Don’t miss the Bloody Tower, but save time for the Royal Beasts exhibit, where you’ll learn that the Tower once housed a polar bear that fished for salmon in the Thames.
For a truly eerie moment, pause at the Traitors’ Gate at low tide. Water trickles through the stone archway just as it did when prisoners arrived by boat, their last view of freedom being that dripping, mossy darkness. Bring an umbrella—the riverside wind is persistent.
