The warders at the Tower of London, known as Beefeaters, are facing redundancies for the first time in 500 years

A drop in tourism due to the coronavirus lockdown has led to a £100m black hole in the Tower's finances.

It’s run by Historic Royal Palaces, who also manage landmarks including Hampton Court.

HRP chief executive John Barnes said the organisation had "simply had no choice" but to make the cuts.

"Historic Royal Palaces is a self-funded charity. We depend on visitors for 80% of our income," he said.

"The closure of our six sites for almost four months has dealt a devastating blow to our finances, which we expect to continue for the rest of the financial year and to be compounded by the slow recovery of international tourism.

"We have taken every possible measure to secure our financial position, but we need to do more to survive in the long term.

"We simply have no choice but to reduce our payroll costs."

Mr Barnes added that the Beefeaters remained a valued part of the Tower of London and would "continue to be part of the Tower's story in the years to come".

"We are heartbroken that it has come to this," he said.

HRP added that there would still be "sufficient staff" to run the site.