The Tower's Last Prisoner: Rudolf Hess, 1941

**May 10, 1941.** **Rudolf Hess**—Hitler's Deputy Führer—crash-lands a Messerschmitt Bf 110 in Scotland after a solo flight to negotiate peace with Britain. Churchill orders: **"Tower of London."**

The Final Incarceration

• Duration: 17 days (May 10–27, 1941)
• Location: **Queen's House** (King's House) — relatively comfortable 16th-century lodging
• Conditions: Not dungeon. Private rooms, batman, meals from Simpson's-in-the-Strand, medical care
• Interrogation: MI6 (Johnstone, Churchill's envoy), psychiatrists — assessed mental state
• Outcome: Deemed unstable; transferred to **Mytchett Place (Camp Z)**, then **Maindiff Court Hospital**, Wales

Why the Tower?

• Security: Most fortified site in London
• Secrecy: Controlled access, no press
• Symbolism: "Traitors' Gate" entry — Hess as ultimate traitor to his own Führer
• Precedent: Last state prisoner held here (Jakobite lords, 1746; WWI spies, 1914–16)

After Hess: Zero Prisoners

• 1941–1945: Used as **POW transit** (German officers, brief holds)
• Post-WWII: **Ministry of Works** → **Historic Royal Palaces** (1998) — full conversion to museum
• Current: **No detention function**. Yeoman Warders live on-site; ravens "guard"; tourists explore

The Bookend

**First recorded prisoner:** Ranulf Flambard (1101, escaped via rope smuggled in wine flagon).
**Last state prisoner:** Rudolf Hess (1941, flew in, drove out).
**Span:** **840 years** of continuous state detention.

The Tower's prison function didn't fade—it **ended by policy decision** when the site's **heritage value exceeded its security utility**. Hess was the period at the end of a very long sentence.