Royal beekeeper, John Chapple, has shared with The Daily Mail that he had to inform the tens of thousands of bees living in hives at Buckingham Palace and Clarence House that the late Queen’s son, King Charles is their “new master.”
The outlet reported that this ritual is a part of a tradition in which the bees must be alerted that there is a change in ownership. It the bees are not informed, the will stop producing honey and will vacate the hive. While the tradition is best known in England, it is commonly practiced in Ireland, Wales, Germany, Netherlands, France, Switzerland, Bohemia and the United States.
Queen Elizabeth’s Bees Informed That They Have A “New Master2 Following The Queen’s Death
Chapple told the outlet, “It is traditional when someone dies that you go to the hives and say a little prayer and put a black ribbon on the hive. The person who has died is the master or mistress of the hives, someone important in the family who dies and you don’t get any more important than the Queen, do you?
You knock on each hive and say, ‘The mistress is dead, but don’t you go. Your master will be a good master to you.’ I’ve done the hives at Clarence House, and I’m now in Buckingham Palace doing their hives.” Chapple hopes that bees continue to have a home on royals grounds.
Chapple continued, “It has been a wonderful privilege to do things like this for the Queen and hopefully now for the King,” he said. “I hope they still want to keep the bees on their premises. You never know. They might say, take them away, but I don’t think that will happening though really you do never know,” he added.
“It’s up to the new tenant of Buckingham Palace.” Princess of Wales, Kate Middleton has revealed she is interested in bees as well. Last year, the wife of Prince William bought a treat for the local schoolchildren she met: homemade honey from Anmer Hall, the Norfolk home where she and her family love to relax. “Would you like to try some?
This came specially from my beehive,” the then Duchess of Cambridge told the children, according to a report from the event. “Does it taste like honey from the shops? Does it taste like flowers?” The kids happily licked spoons of the tasty treat.
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