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Terms of use

Ticketing terms and conditions

You must accept these terms and conditions before you can proceed with your booking.

Tickets are sold subject to the following terms and conditions:

  • Please check dates and times before completing your booking as mistakes may not be rectified after completion of your booking.
  • Changes to the date and/or entry time of an admission ticket can be made on payment of a re-booking fee, providing the preferred date/time is available and at least 24-hours notice is given. The request must be made by calling our team on 0333 320 6000. Operating hours can be found on our Contact Us webpage. Please note: times/dates of tickets for special events including Ceremony of the Keys cannot be changed once booked. £1 entry scheme tickets are not eligible for exchange or refund.
  • Tickets cannot be resold or refunded. To do so, or to alter or deface the ticket will render it void.
  • Tickets must not be offered for re-sale via a third party. To do so will invalidate the ticket.
  • Notwithstanding anything above, the laws of England and Wales apply to all tickets sales except those related to Hillsborough Castle and Gardens where the laws of Northern Ireland will apply.

Historic Royal Palaces reserve the right to refuse admission, terminate a visit, close rooms or restrict access to areas within the grounds around the palaces at short notice and without prior warning.

Please note, discount ticket offers cannot be used in conjunction with one another.

Visit Terms and Conditions

You must accept these terms and conditions before you can proceed with your booking:

  • Children under the age of 16 must be accompanied by an adult at all times. We reserve the right to refuse admission to unaccompanied children.
  • There is a strict adult to child ratio depending on the age of the children, as follows:
    • 13-15 years: 1 adult to every 15 children
    • 6-12 years: 1 adult to every 10 children
    • 0-5 years: 1 adult to every 5 children

We reserve the right to refuse admission if the ratio of child to adult is higher than permitted.

  • Smoking is prohibited within all buildings and anywhere on site unless you are in a designated smoking area. Hillsborough Castle and Gardens is a non-smoking site.
  • Eating and drinking are prohibited within all buildings, except designated refreshment and cafeteria areas.
  • The use of photographic and recording equipment, or mobile phones (and selfie sticks), are prohibited within all buildings (unless otherwise advertised).
  • Unless signage says otherwise, you are not permitted to touch any of the artworks or furniture on display.
  • Dogs will not be admitted (except assistance dogs).
  • Security checks are in place at all palaces and will include bag searches and sniffer dogs.
  • Back packs and large bags/suitcases are not permitted to be carried within any of our buildings.
  • Limited luggage storage is available at the discretion of Historic Royal Palaces and subject to availability, withdrawal at any time and bag searches. You are strongly advised to check prior to your visit that such facilities are available and not to bring large items with you.
  • We do not tolerate abuse of staff for any reason and will terminate visit in the event of abusive behaviour.

Ceremony of Keys Terms and Conditions

  • Tickets are subject to our normal ticketing terms which can be found here.
  • The named ticket holder must be in attendance, otherwise your group will not be admitted.
  • There is a maximum number of tickets that are available to any one applicant, currently 6 tickets.
  • Multiple bookings under the same name, email or address may be cancelled and will be refused entry on the night.
  • We do not accept bookings by groups, schools or third parties, tour operators etc. Any bookings will be cancelled.
  • We are not able to offer a waiting list.
  • Photography is not permitted during any part of the ceremony.

The Gunpowder Plot Voucher Terms and Conditions

You must accept these terms and conditions before you can proceed with your booking. 

  • Historic Royal Palaces is acting as an agent for Layered Reality™ trading as Gunpowder Immersive Ltd. 
  • Sale of Gunpowder Plot vouchers are made by Historic Royal Palaces but are managed and fulfilled by Layered Reality™. T&Cs apply. For full details visit The Gunpowder Plot website.
  • Vouchers can be redeemed for any Standard tickets to The Gunpowder Plot. Opening times and days vary. Tickets are subject to availability, see The Gunpowder Plot website for details.
  • Purchase of a Voucher is not guarantee of entry. Vouchers must be redeemed by contacting The Gunpowder Plot guest service team at support@layeredreality.com
  • We strongly advise that you do not make any travel, accommodation or other arrangements until you have received confirmation of your tickets and booking via email from The Gunpowder Plot.
  • Vouchers for The Gunpowder Plot do not include entry to the Tower of London.
  • Vouchers for The Gunpowder Plot are valid for 12 months from the date of purchase.
  • The voucher must be redeemed and booked within 12 months.
  • The voucher is exempt from the £2.50 booking fee.
  • Vouchers and Tickets for The Gunpowder Plot are non-refundable.
  • Vouchers cannot be refunded or exchanged for another product.
  • Vouchers can only be used when redeeming tickets with Gunpowder Immersive Ltd and cannot be used for on-site purchases during your visit to the Tower of London and The Gunpowder Immersive Experience.
  • Vouchers must not be offered for re-sale via a third party. To do so will invalidate the voucher.
  • Lost or stolen vouchers cannot be replaced.
  • All enquiries regarding this voucher and The Gunpowder Plot experience will be answered by contacting the Layered Reality™ guest services team who can be reached via email at support@layeredreality.com

Sponsor a Stone Terms and Conditions

In these conditions the following words shall have the following meaning:

“You” or “Your” refers to the person or entity sponsoring a Stone.

“HRP” means Historic Royal Palaces, the charitable organisation responsible for the management of HM Tower of London and the White Tower that will benefit from the Sponsorship.

“Stone” or “Stones” means one (or more) of the stones within the White Tower available for Sponsorship.

“Gift Aid” means the scheme enabling charities to reclaim tax made on a donation from a UK tax payer.

“Sponsor” or “Sponsorship” means the donation payment made in exchange to sponsor a Stone.

“Term” means the length of the Sponsorship, which is from the date of the payment to May 2026. 

  1. Sponsorship of a Stone does not mean You own the Stone or any part of the White Tower building, nor does Sponsorship provide You with any right of entry to HM Tower of London (or any other of HRP’s sites).
  2. The Sponsorship shall last the length of the Term.
  3. You acknowledge that your Sponsorship will be utilised to assist HRP in delivering its charitable aims in the general sense rather than any specific purpose such as upkeep of the White Tower.
  4. If Your Sponsorship is donated via the Gift Aid scheme, You confirm that You abide by the rules of the Gift Aid scheme, here: https://www.gov.uk/donating-to-charity/gift-aid.
  5. Your Sponsorship may not be transferred or otherwise disposed of without the prior written permission of HRP.
  6. Your personal data (defined per the Data Protection Act (2018) shall be treated in line with HRP’s privacy policy.
  7. These terms and conditions shall be governed by and interpreted in accordance with the laws of England and Wales.

Membership terms and conditions

Thank you for considering becoming a Member of Historic Royal Palaces. By purchasing one of our Memberships, you are supporting our work and agree to the Terms & Conditions found here.

Personal data and data protection

The processing of personal data is governed by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). If you signed up to receive emails from us you can amend your preferences or opt out at any time. Please refer to our Privacy Policy for more information.

Website terms and conditions (general)

PLEASE READ THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS CAREFULLY BEFORE USING THIS SITE

Terms of website use

These Terms of use (together with the documents referred to) tell you the terms of use on which you may make use of our website www.hrp.org.uk (our site), whether as a guest or a registered user. Use of our site includes accessing, browsing, or registering to use our site.

Please read these terms of use carefully before you start to use our site, as these will apply to your use of our site. We recommend that you print a copy of this for future reference.

By using our site, you confirm that you accept these terms of use and that you agree to comply with them.

If you do not agree to these terms of use, you must not use our site.

Other applicable terms

These terms of use refer to the following additional terms, which also apply to your use of our site:

  • Our Privacy Policy (including Cookies), which sets out the terms on which we process any personal data we collect from you, or that you provide to us and information about the cookies on our site. By using our site, you consent to our processing of your personal data and you warrant that all data provided by you is accurate.
  • If you purchase goods from our site, our Terms and Conditions of Supply will apply to the sales.

Information about us

www.hrp.org.uk is a site operated by Historic Royal Palaces ("We"). We are registered in England and Wales under company number RC000769 and our registered/trading address is Hampton Court Palace, Surrey, KT8 9AU. Our VAT number is 710 9813 45.

We are a Company Incorporated by Royal Charter.

Changes to these terms

We may revise these terms of use at any time by amending this page.

Please check this page from time to time to take notice of any changes we made, as they are binding on you.

Changes to our site

We may update our site from time to time, and may change the content at any time. However, please note that any of the content on our site may be out of date at any given time, and we are under no obligation to update it.

We do not guarantee that our site, or any content on it, will be free from errors or omissions.

Accessing our site

Our site is made available free of charge.

We do not guarantee that our site, or any content on it, will always be available or be uninterrupted. Access to our site is permitted on a temporary basis. We may suspend, withdraw, discontinue or change all or any part of our site without notice. We will not be liable to you if for any reason our site is unavailable at any time or for any period.

You are responsible for making all arrangements necessary for you to have access to our site.

You are also responsible for ensuring that all persons who access our site through your internet connection are aware of these terms of use and other applicable terms and conditions, and that they comply with them.

Your account and password

If you choose, or you are provided with, a user identification code, password or any other piece of information as part of our security procedures, you must treat such information as confidential. You must not disclose it to any third party.

We have the right to disable any user identification code or password, whether chosen by you or allocated by us, at any time, if in our reasonable opinion you have failed to comply with any of the provisions of these terms of use.

If you know or suspect that anyone other than you knows your user identification code or password, you must promptly notify us at webmaster@hrp.org.uk.

Intellectual property rights

We are the owner or the licensee of all intellectual property rights in our site, and in the material published on it.

Those works are protected by copyright, trademarks or other intellectual property rights under English and international laws and are owned or controlled by us or the party credited as the provider of the material. All such rights are reserved. You must abide by all additional copyright notices, information, or restrictions contained in any material accessed through our site.

You may download or copy extracts of any page(s) from our site for your personal use.

You must not modify the paper or digital copies of any materials you have printed off or downloaded in any way, and you must not use any illustrations, photographs, video or audio sequences or any graphics separately from any accompanying text.

Our status (and that of any identified contributors) as the authors of content on our site must always be acknowledged. All copies must maintain copyright and other intellectual property notices contained in the original material.

You must not use any part of the content on our site for commercial purposes without obtaining a licence to do so from us or our licensors.

If you print off, copy or download any part of our site in breach of these terms of use, your right to use our site will cease immediately and you must, at our option, return or destroy any copies of the materials you have made.

The products, technologies or processes illustrated or described in this site may be the subject of other intellectual property rights reserved by us or by other third parties. No licence is granted in respect of those intellectual property rights.

Images, trademarks and brands displayed on this site are protected by copyright and other intellectual property laws and may not be reproduced or appropriated in any manner without the written permission of their respective owner(s).

No reliance on information

The content on our site is provided for general information only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site.

Although we make reasonable efforts to update the information on our site, we make no representations, warranties or guarantees, whether express or implied, that the content on our site is accurate, complete or up-to-date.

Limitation of our liability

Nothing in these terms of use excludes or limits our liability for death or personal injury arising from our negligence, or our fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or any other liability that cannot be excluded or limited by English law.

To the extent permitted by law, we exclude all conditions, warranties, representations or other terms which may apply to our site or any content on it, whether express or implied.

We will not be liable to any user for any loss or damage, whether in contract, tort (including negligence), breach of statutory duty, or otherwise, even if foreseeable, arising under or in connection with:

  • use of, or inability to use, our site; or
  • use of or reliance on any content displayed on our site.

If you are a business user, please note that in particular, we will not be liable for:

  • loss of profits, sales, business, or revenue;
  • business interruption;
  • loss of anticipated savings;
  • loss of business opportunity, goodwill or reputation; or
  • any indirect or consequential loss or damage.

If you are a consumer user, please note that we only provide our site for domestic and private use. You agree not to use our site for any commercial or business purposes, and we have no liability to you for any loss of profit, loss of business, business interruption, or loss of business opportunity.

We will not be liable for any loss or damage caused by a virus, distributed denial-of-service attack, or other technologically harmful material that may infect your computer equipment, computer programs, data or other proprietary material due to your use of our site or to your downloading of any content on it, or on any website linked to it.

We assume no responsibility for the content of websites linked on our site. Such links should not be interpreted as endorsement by us of those linked websites. We will not be liable for any loss or damage that may arise from your use of them.

Different limitations and exclusions of liability will apply to liability arising as a result of the supply of any goods by use to you, which will be set out in our Terms and Conditions of Supply.

Uploading content to our site

Whenever you make use of a feature that allows you to upload content to our site, or to make contact with other users of our site, you must comply with the content standards set out in these terms and conditions.

You warrant that any such contribution does comply with those standards, and you will be liable to us and indemnify us for any breach of that warranty. If you are a consumer user, this means you will be responsible for any loss or damage we suffer as a result of your breach of warranty.

Any content you upload to our site will be considered non-confidential and non-proprietary. You retain all of your ownership rights in your content, but you are required to grant us and other users of the site a limited licence to use, store and copy that content and to distribute and make it available to third parties.

We also have the right to disclose your identity to any third party who is claiming that any content posted or uploaded by you to our site constitutes a violation of their intellectual property rights, or of their right to privacy.

We will not be responsible, or liable to any third party, for the content or accuracy of any content posted by you or any other user of our site.

We have the right to remove any posting you make on our site if, in our opinion, your post does not comply with the content standards set out in these terms and conditions

The views expressed by other users on our site do not represent our views or values.

You are solely responsible for securing and backing up your content.

Viruses

We do not guarantee that our site will be secure or free from bugs or viruses.

You are responsible for configuring your information technology, computer programmes and platform in order to access our site. You should use your own virus protection software.

You must not misuse our site by knowingly introducing viruses, trojans, worms, logic bombs or other material which is malicious or technologically harmful. You must not attempt to gain unauthorised access to our site, the server on which our site is stored or any server, computer or database connected to our site. You must not attack our site via a denial-of-service attack or a distributed denial-of service attack. By breaching this provision, you would commit a criminal offence under the Computer Misuse Act 1990. We will report any such breach to the relevant law enforcement authorities and we will co-operate with those authorities by disclosing your identity to them. In the event of such a breach, your right to use our site will cease immediately.

Linking to our site

You may link to our site provided you do so in a way that is fair and legal and does not damage our reputation or take advantage of it.

You must not establish a link in such a way as to suggest any form of association, approval or endorsement on our part where none exists.

You must not establish a link to our site in any website that is not owned by you.

The website in which you are linking must comply in all respects with the content standards set out in these terms and conditions.

If you wish to make any use of content on our site other than that set out above, please contact webmaster@hrp.org.uk.

Third party links and resources in our site

Where our site contains links to other sites and resources provided by third parties, these links are provided for your information only.

We have no control over the contents of those sites or resources.

Applicable law

These terms are governed by English law and you can bring legal proceedings in respect of the products in the English courts.

Trade Marks

Without limitation, "Historic Royal Palaces", "Tower of London", "Hampton Court Palace", "Kensington Palace", "Banqueting House", "Kew Palace", "Jewel House", "HILLSBOROUGH CASTLE", "Historic Royal Palaces Hillsborough Castle", "PERKIN REVELLER", and the Historic Royal Palaces logo are UK registered trade marks of Historic Royal Palaces Enterprises Limited.

Website Acceptable Use Policy

Prohibited uses

You may use our site only for lawful purposes. You may not use our site:

  • In any way that breaches any applicable local, national or international law or regulation.
  • In any way that is unlawful or fraudulent, or has any unlawful or fraudulent purpose or effect.
  • For the purpose of harming or attempting to harm minors in any way.
  • To send, knowingly receive, upload, download, use or re-use any material which does not comply with our content standards.
  • To transmit, or procure the sending of, any unsolicited or unauthorised advertising or promotional material or any other form of similar solicitation (spam).
  • To knowingly transmit any data, send or upload any material that contains viruses, Trojan horses, worms, time-bombs, keystroke loggers, spyware, adware or any other harmful programs or similar computer code designed to adversely affect the operation of any computer software or hardware.
    You also agree:
  • Not to reproduce, duplicate, copy or re-sell any part of our site in contravention of the provisions of our terms of website use
  • Not to access without authority, interfere with, damage or disrupt:
    o any part of our site;
    o any equipment or network on which our site is stored;
    o any software used in the provision of our site; or
    o any equipment or network or software owned or used by any third party.

Content standards

These content standards apply to any and all material which you contribute to our site (contributions), and to any interactive services associated with it.

You must comply with the spirit and the letter of the following standards. The standards apply to each part of any contribution as well as to its whole.

Contributions must:

  • Be accurate (where they state facts).
  • Be genuinely held (where they state opinions).
  • Comply with applicable law in the UK and in any country from which they are posted.

Contributions must not:

  • Contain any material which is defamatory of any person.
  • Contain any material which is obscene, offensive, hateful or inflammatory.
  • Promote sexually explicit material.
  • Promote violence.
  • Promote discrimination based on race, sex, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation or age.
  • Infringe any copyright, database right or trade mark of any other person.
  • Be likely to deceive any person.
  • Be made in breach of any legal duty owed to a third party, such as a contractual duty or a duty of confidence.
  • Promote any illegal activity.
  • Be threatening, abuse or invade another’s privacy, or cause annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety.
  • Be likely to harass, upset, embarrass, alarm or annoy any other person.
  • Be used to impersonate any person, or to misrepresent your identity or affiliation with any person.
  • Give the impression that they emanate from us, if this is not the case.
  • Advocate, promote or assist any unlawful act such as (by way of example only) copyright infringement or computer misuse.

Suspension and termination

We will determine, in our discretion, whether there has been a breach of the above terms of use through your use of our site. When a breach of this policy has occurred, we may take such action as we deem appropriate.

Failure to comply with these terms constitutes a material breach of the terms of use upon which you are permitted to use our site, and may result in our taking all or any of the following actions:

  • Immediate, temporary or permanent withdrawal of your right to use our site.
  • Immediate, temporary or permanent removal of any posting or material uploaded by you to our site.
  • Issue of a warning to you.
  • Legal proceedings against you for reimbursement of all costs on an indemnity basis (including, but not limited to, reasonable administrative and legal costs) resulting from the breach.
  • Further legal action against you.
  • Disclosure of such information to law enforcement authorities as we reasonably feel is necessary.

We exclude liability for actions taken in response to breaches of this acceptable use policy. The responses described in this policy are not limited, and we may take any other action we reasonably deem appropriate.

Contact us

You can find out how to Contact us here. 

Changes to our terms and conditions

These terms and conditions were last updated in August 2022.