John Chapple

The announcement of the sad news of the Queen's passing, like all of the events following her death, followed strict protocol.

The Prime Minister was informed using a pre-arranged code, London Bridge is down.

The news was then told to 15 governments outside the UK, where the Queen was also head of state and 36 other nations of the Commonwealth for whom she was a symbolic figurehead.

The press too were told, causing the BBC to change its schedule, removing comedy and only playing appropriate music.

Then, despite being in an age of Twitter and social media, the public would be officially informed when a footman in mourning clothes emerged from Buckingham Palace and pinned a black-edged notice to the gates.

While he did this, the palace website changed to show the same text on a dark background.

And somewhere, deep in the gardens of Buckingham Palace, the royal beekeeper informed the royal bees.

That's right, John Chappell, who's been the Queen's beekeeper for 15 years and takes care of up to a million bees,

personally went to each hive in both Buckingham Palace and Clarence House to let them know that the Queen was dead.

Interviewed for the Daily Mail, he said, 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.

He then said a little prayer and put a black ribbon on each hive.

Why does he tell the bees?

This is due to a tradition that goes back centuries, most popular in Britain, but also found in other parts of Europe and the United States.

It claims that bees, as members of the household, should be told of all major events in their keepers' lives, especially births and deaths, and that if they're not told, the bees could fail to make honey, abandon the hive or even die.

Mark Norman, the author of Telling the Bees and Other Customs, the Folklores of Rural Crafts, says, It's a very old and well-established tradition, but not something that's very well known.

Those beekeepers that are aware of this tradition

like to keep it going, not out of fear of the terrible consequences that might befall them from ill-informed bees, but rather because they find it appealing.

Stephen Fleming, a beekeeper himself, once performed this ritual when a friend and fellow beekeeper died.

It was just something I thought my friend would enjoy, he said in an article in the New York Times.

So there you have it.