Royal beekeeper tasked with informing queen’s bees of her death
nypost.comascended to the throne.The tradition, called “telling the bees,” demands that the bees be informed of the monarch’s passing in a hushed tone, the Daily Mail reported.A traditional custom in many European countries, “telling the bees” started centuries ago According to tradition, the bees must be told of important events in their keepers’ lives, such as births, marriages or departures from the household.
It is said that if the bees are not told of important events, there will be a penalty to pay such as bees leaving their hive, stopping the production of honey, or even dying.“I’m at the hives now, and 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 79-year-old beekeeper told the Daily Mail. “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?” Chapple continued saying that it is proper for the person performing the custom to ask them to serve the next leader.“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,'” said Chapple. “I’ve done the hives at Clarence House and I’m now in Buckingham Palace doing their hives.”Chapple revealed that at the height of the summer, he was caring for nearly a million bees.“At this time of year, each hive contains 20,000 each, maybe a bit more but I’m not very good at counting them.
It’s over a million in the summer,” he said.Chapple also said it was pure accident that he got the job.“I got an email from the head gardener here at Buckingham Palace to come here and talk about bees,” recalled Chapple.
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