「女王過世了，但請你們不要離開，新主人會對你們很好。」

英女王逝世／女王過世蜜蜂也知道　皇家養蜂人循古老習俗避災禍    CTWant 20220915

英國女王伊莉莎白二世（Queen Elizabeth II）近日辭世的消息傳遍全球，連蜜蜂都知道？79歲的皇家養蜂人查普爾（John Chapple）在蜂巢繫上黑蝴蝶結，告訴蜜蜂女王過世了，牠們會有新主人。據說遵循這種古老的習俗是為了避免災禍。

據《國家與世界》報導，查普爾告訴《每日郵報》說，他9日前往倫敦白金漢宮告訴7個蜂巢的蜜蜂，「女王過世了，但請你們不要離開，新主人會對你們很好。」他在蜂巢繫上黑蝴蝶結。他表示，大多數的養蜂人都知道這一項傳統，但很少人會真的實踐它。

一位養蜂人說，「傳訊蜜蜂」這種習俗可以追溯到18、19世紀，如果不遵守可能回造成嚴重的後果。從事養蜂業25年的弗萊明（Stephen Fleming）說，他曾經在朋友過世後，屢行這項傳統，他敲了朋友的蜂巢告訴牠們朋友過世的消息，「我只是認為朋友會喜歡這項習俗。」

據了解，在傳統上認為，蜜蜂是養蜂人的家庭成員，如果發生重大的家庭事件，蜜蜂也應該知情，尤其是出生和死亡，養蜂人會敲每個蜂巢傳遞消息，在哀悼期間會用黑布蓋住蜂巢。此外，女王也是一名蜜蜂愛好者，多年來在皇宮的場地上擁有許多蜂巢，而皇室廚師也會在料理中使用蜂蜜，並將剩餘的食物捐給慈善機構。

 

EXCLUSIVE: Royal beekeeper has informed the Queen's bees that the Queen has died and King Charles is their new boss in bizarre tradition dating back centuries    Daily Mail 20220910

• Royal beekeeper John Chapple has notified the palace hive of the Queen's death
• He told the bees that King Charles is their new boss and urged them to be good
• The centuries-old traditon is rooted in superstition about honey production
• The Queen's funeral: All the latest Royal Family news and coverage

By JOHN DINGWALL FOR MAILONLINE

PUBLISHED: 08:48 BST, 10 September 2022 | UPDATED: 13:53 BST, 10 September 2022

 

The royal beekeeper - in an arcane tradition thought to date back centuries - has informed the hives kept in the grounds of Buckingham Palace and Clarence House of the Queen’s death.

And the bees have also been told, in hushed tones, that their new master is now King Charles III.

The official Palace beekeeper, John Chapple, 79, told MailOnline how he travelled to Buckingham Palace and Clarence House on Friday following news of The Queen’s death to carry out the superstitious ritual.

He placed black ribbons tied into bows on the hives, home to tens of thousands of bees, before informing them that their mistress had died and that a new master would be in charge from now on.

He then urged the bees to be good to their new master - himself once famed for talking to plants.

The strange ritual is underpinned by an old superstition that not to tell them of a change of owner would lead to the bees not producing honey, leaving the hive or even dying.

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.

‘I drape the hives with black ribbon with a bow.

‘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.’

At the height of summer, Mr Chapple takes care of over a million bees though by late summer their numbers have dropped.

He said: ‘In Clarence House there are two hives and in Buckingham Palace there are five.

‘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.’

Mr Chapple revealed he has been the official palace beekeeper for 15 years despite not realising he had turned up for an interview for the job.

He said: ‘I got an email from the head gardener here at Buckingham Palace to come here and talk about bees.

‘I thought they had a problem with bees but it turned out they wanted to keep bees so henceforth I look after the bees here.’

He added: 'I’m retired. I’m 79. It’s my hobby, beekeeping and now I look after a few hives for important people.

‘Number one is the Queen, or rather was, the Queen.

‘I was the Queen’s beekeeper and hopefully now I’ll get the job of being the King’s beekeeper.

‘It’s been about 15 years that I have been in the role.

‘In all, I have been looking after bees 30-plus years. It started because of my wife’s love of honey.

‘So I bought her a book called Keeping Bees In The Back Garden. She read the book and said, “Well, it’s over to you now”. So I got the job of keeping bees in my home and it has just developed from that.

 ‘It has been a wonderful hobby and an interest and it has taken me all over the world. I’ve met wonderful people and seen lovely sights that only beekeepers can ever see.

‘I’m standing now on the island in Buckingham Palace and there is not a living soul I can see.

‘I can hear a few birds and the traffic and that’s it.

‘It has been a wonderful privilege to do things like this for the Queen and hopefully now for the King.

‘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.

‘It’s up to the new tenant of Buckingham Palace.’

John takes care of predominantly Dark European Honey bees, specifically London mongrels.

These have been native to mainland Britain since before the closing of the Channel Landbridge, when sea levels rose following the last Ice Age.

Telling the bees is a traditional custom of many European countries in which bees would be told of important events in their keeper's lives, such as births, marriages, or departures and returns in the household.

If the custom was omitted or forgotten and the bees were not ‘put into mourning’ then it was believed a penalty would be paid, such as the bees leaving their hive, stopping the production of honey or dying.

The custom is best known in England, but has also been recorded in Ireland, Wales, Germany, Netherlands, France, Switzerland, Bohemia and the United States.

Mr Chapple’s wife Kath, who sent John off for the day to inform the bees of the sad news of the Queen’s death, said: ‘The tradition is you tap gently on the hive and say your mistress or master is dead but your new master will be good to you so treat him well.’