BIZARRE?:

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

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.

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