In a bizarre tradition going back centuries, the royal beekeeper travelled to Buckingham Palace and Clarence House to inform the late Queen's beehives of her death.
John Chapple, the royal beekeeper also told the bees that King Charles III is now their new master in hushed tones.
The strange ritual is based on a superstition that not telling the bees of the change of ownership would lead the hive not to produce honey.
Speaking from the Buckingham Palace gardens, Mr Chapple told MailOnline, “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.”
Mr Chapple has been the official palace beekeeper for 15 years and takes care of 5 hives at Buckingham Palace and Clarence House.
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