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  Tower of London
Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress together as know as the Tower of London is located in central London on the north bank of the River Thames. Today the Tower of London is one of the world’s major tourist attractions and a World Heritage Site and attracts over two million visitors each year.
William the Conqueror began construction of an enormous stone tower at the centre of his London fortress in 1080s. Successive monarchs added to the fortifications with the construction and it changed role and served various functions: a fortress, a royal palace, a place of execution and torture, an armory, a treasury, a zoo, the Royal Mint, a public records office, an observatory, currently home of the Crown Jewels and a prison. It had also housed royal prisoners and one of them being Queen Elizabeth I.
There is not just one tower - many towers make up the Tower of London. The Beauchamp Tower, The Bowyer Tower, The Constable Tower, The Salt Tower, The Bloody Tower, The Broad Arrow Tower, The Cradle Tower, The Martin Tower and The White Tower are the towers that comprise the Tower of London.
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White Tower was constructed to awe, subdue and terrify Londoners and also to deter foreign invaders. Its formidable exterior conceals some unseen gems including Henry VIII’s amour and the beautiful 11th-century Chapel of St John the Evangelist. Visitors can get to grips with the Tower's arsenal and ten centuries of Tower history. It’s quite an experience when one get to wear a gauntlet or lifting a musket or drawing a bow and handle a sword as you explore the different roles of the Tower over the centuries.
Crown Jewels are the priceless symbols of the British monarchy and are displayed under armed guard in the Jewel House at the Tower of London. The collection has 23,578 jewels on display including the enormous Cullinan I, the notorious Koh-I-Noor and the Imperial State Crown which alone has 2,868 diamonds, 273 pearls, 17 sapphires, 11 emeralds and 5 rubies.
At the Tower of London the visitors can have a unique experience with a Yeoman Warder tour and is one of the most popular attractions for visitors. The ‘Beefeaters’ is the nickname to the ‘Yeomen of the Guard’ and have been The Royal Bodyguard since at least 1509. It is mandatory for a Yeoman Warders to have served in the armed forces with a respectable record for at least 22 years. The current contingent of warders have been a part of many conflicts including serving in Northern Ireland, the Falklands War, Bosnia, the first and second Gulf conflicts and in Afghanistan. The Warders entertain visitors with tales of intrigue, imprisonment, execution and torture.
The Tower of London also has some great churches inside the complex. The Chapel of St. John's is not only the best-preserved but also one of the best examples of Anglo-Norman church architecture. The Chapel Royal of St. Peter ad Vincula is a Tudor chapel containing monuments to residents of the Tower, its prisoners and including those executed on Tower Green. It was originally a parish church and three queens of England Anne Boleyn, Catherine Howard and Jane Grey, and two saints of the Roman Catholic Church, Sir Thomas More and John Fischer are buried in the Chapel. It also is the place of worship for the Tower’s community of around 150 residents.
The Tower is also one of the most haunted buildings in England. Some of the ghosts of the tower include ghost of Queen Anne Boleyn, Henry VI, Lady Jane Grey, Margaret Pole and the Princes in the Tower.
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