TikTok has millions of users, so what’s the best way to stand out? It’s always a good idea to have something quirky or unique about you – and romance novelist Megan Clawson has this nailed, because she lives in the Tower of London.
The 22-year-old shares snippets of her life in the royal palace with her 260.5k followers on TikTok – clocking up 4.6 million likes along the way. In April 2023, Clawson is releasing her debut novel, Falling Hard For The Royal Guard: “The book follows Maggie Moore, who is a 26-year-old who lives with her father, a Beefeater, in the Tower of London,” Clawson explains.
“She’s not had a great time with dating – she’s got a bit of a rubbish ex-boyfriend who she can’t really shake off, and she lives with her dad.
“Then the fact she also lives in the Tower of London adds another obstacle, because she’s constantly being watched – it’s a place with the most security in the world. It’s not until she has a mini run-in with a very handsome King’s Guard that things start to take a bit of a turn.”
Clawson lives in the Tower with her Beefeater father, Chris, and her King’s Guard partner, George – so it all sounds a bit familiar. However, she emphasises: “That’s really where the similarities end – it’s a very fictionalised version.”
While the book might be a work of fiction, living in the Tower is Clawson’s real life – and this is what she wants everyone to know about it…
It was even more magnificent during lockdown
Clawson spent the second and third lockdowns in the Tower, and says it was a particularly memorable experience. “It’s very strange – when you’re in the Tower normally, and you’ve got all of the people rushing about, it doesn’t really feel like home – you can’t just walk around the Tower and feel like it belongs to you,” she reflects.
“But it definitely did in lockdown. It felt like you could be walking through any moment of history, and made me feel a bit like a queen.
“It felt more like a royal court, which was quite nice. But also, at the end of the day, it was both a palace and a prison. My dad definitely would say those walls can feel like they’re closing in around you, because that’s what they’re designed to do. It’s got that aspect of feeling like you’re in a brilliant Tudor court, but also that you’re trapped in this monumental fortress.”
Now, Clawson gets a bit of that magic back after hours, saying: “I think the best thing about living in the Tower is coming home at night time when there’s nobody around. I take this one route through the middle, and you walk under the White Tower. Every single time I look up at it, it makes you feel so small, but also so powerful… That feeling of the sublime is overwhelming.”
The Beefeaters are all big softies
“The Beefeaters are all really hilarious and loving people,” Clawson says. “They like to put on this show for the public, that they’re very scary. They like to shout and make everybody jump and tell these scary stories on their tours – but actually, they’re some of the most loving people I’ve ever had the privilege of meeting.
“Every single one of them would do absolutely anything for you, they’re all very protective. That’s a side they perhaps don’t necessarily want the whole public to see, but they’re definitely big old softies at heart.”
The sense of community is one of Clawson’s favourite things about where she lives. Before moving in, she lived with friends in London, which she calls “a very lonely experience”. Clawson continues: “I’m from the countryside and talk to everybody, and going from that to keeping your eyes down on the Tube was very difficult for me. So, when I moved to the Tower, all of a sudden you’re back in a village again, and everyone’s talking to you – it’s such a community of people.”
You have to be organised – otherwise you might get locked out
The Tower isn’t exactly the kind of place you can pop in and out of – meaning Clawson has to plan her social life accordingly.
“Between half nine and 10, we have the Ceremony of the Keys [the nightly ceremony locking up the Tower], so nobody can leave their house and nobody can come in during that time,” she explains. “Then, unless you have signed in a book with the watchman beforehand, you can’t leave or come in after midnight – until about six o’clock in the morning. So that can be a little bit tricky.”
Luckily, Clawson has never been locked out – but she has had a few instances when she was out later than anticipated, meaning she had to call a “very grumbly Beefeater” to tell him when she’d be home.
It’s actually more normal than you might think
The main thing Clawson wants people to know about living in a Norman palace-meets-prison? It’s a bit more normal than you might think.
“I always have to preface when I take friends into the Tower: ‘OK, I know you’re expecting some dungeon with a four-poster bed and bats flying around or whatever, but my house is just a regular house’. Obviously, the location is very strange, but when we’re actually inside – despite the fact there are a couple of arrow slits and far too many stairs – you feel like you’re in a regular house.”
Falling Hard For The Royal Guard by Megan Clawson, is published by Avon, Harper Collins on April 27, 2023. Available to pre-order on Amazon.
