In recent days it was noticeable how the death of a British monarch is surrounded by special rituals, but one tradition really takes the cake. The thousands of bees that reside in the beehives of the palace gardens have also been informed, in accordance with protocol, by the royal beekeeper about the death of their queen and the accession of the new king, Charles III.
John Chapple, the official palace beekeeper of the British royal family, was one of many Britons who had to work Friday after the news of the death of Queen Elizabeth II to make the monarch’s mourning period run smoothly. The 79-year-old rushed to the gardens of Buckingham Palace and Clarence House to inform his bees of the sad news.
To British news site MailOnline tells Chapple how he went about it. For example, he would first have tied black ribbons around the hives, after which he told them in a soft tone that they had a new master. Chapple: ,,Then you knock on every cupboard and say: ‘The mistress is dead, but don’t leave yet. Your new boss will be good to you.”
Chapple has been the Queen’s official beekeeper for 15 years, “and hopefully now the King too.” Thirty years ago he started his first beehive. ,,It all started because my wife loves honey so much. I bought her a book about beekeeping at the time, and she said to me, ‘Now it’s your turn’.” Beekeeping became one of his greatest hobbies, and when he retired from Royal Beekeeper offered, he couldn’t refuse.
More than a million bees
He explains that at Clarence House, in London’s Westminster, there are two beehives. There are five at Buckingham Palace. “At this time, there are about 20,000 bees in each hive. There may be more, but I can’t count them very well. In the summer there are more than a million.”
‘Telling the Bees’
It was therefore his wife who informed him about ‘telling the bees’. In many European countries it used to be customary to tell the bees about important life events. For example, bees were kept informed of births, marriages, and also the deaths of their owners. If that didn’t happen, the bees, thought to be messengers between our world and the afterlife, would leave their hives, stop producing honey, or even die.
This form of superstition is mainly linked to English history, but also in Germany, France, America, and the Netherlands, bees were kept informed by many people about the ins and outs of family life. It is therefore remarkable that the British royal family still carries out this custom, but it certainly fits in the mourning period that is formed by old rituals and protocols.
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