His mother the Queen was a lover of bees, giving away jars of honey from her five Buckingham Palace hives to everyone from the Pope to President Barack Obama.
And that passion for bees has stayed with King Charles who has just taken delivery of 70,000 more at his Sandringham estate in Norfolk.
Mystery surrounds where the tiny new workers have come from, but Charles is known to be pally with another famous beekeeper… David Beckham.
The King has been seen swapping beekeeping tips with the former footballer and they have even swapped jars of each other’s honey.
Beckham’s passion for beekeeping was revealed in a recent Netflix documentary which showed him in full apiarist gear to tend hives at his Cotswold home.
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King Charles has taken delivery of 70,000 bees at his Sandringham estate in Norfolk
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Mystery surrounds where the tiny new workers have come from, but Charles is known to be pally with another famous beekeeper… David Beckham, who is pictured offering the monarch a jar of his honey last year
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Pictured: David Beckham holding a jar of his own honey
Charles already has hives at his country home Highgrove House in Tetbury, Gloucestershire.
Former Royal Beekeeper to the Queen’s bees John Chapple, who cared for up to 420,000 bees across the Palace’s hives, welcomed the news of Sandringham’s new bees but did not know where the King has got them from.
‘You buy them from another beekeeper but I don’t know who that would be,’ he said.
‘I just hope he bought them from this country and did not import them from abroad.
‘The main thing is to have local bees. They’re used to the conditions and that’s where it’s going wrong.
‘People bring bees in right now, let’s say from southern Italy, which are cheaper than buying English bees but they’re not used to our climate.’
Mr Chapple, who says he talks to the bees, revealed that the late Queen was ‘very proud’ of her royal bee colonies.
He added that their honey was served at her breakfast table every day.
Walliams’ puppy love
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David Walliams posing with rumoured girlfriend Keeley Hazell and their new baby… a fur baby named Eric
David Walliams is having a baby – a fur baby, that is.
The children’s writer and his rumoured girlfriend, Ted Lasso star Keeley Hazell, showed off gorgeous new puppy Eric in a picture taken on David’s doorstep.
The sweet border terrier is David’s third canine companion – he’s already a proud dog father to terriers Ernie and Bert. Looks like one yappy family to me!
She’s been ‘married’ to Bobby Kootstra since 2019, but Katherine Ryan told me at Magic Mike Live that she’s ‘getting worried’.
‘I think men are always one mistake away from imploding their whole lives – you can’t trust any of them.’
Jodie’s hot date with Pirelli calendar
Don’t lose your head, but that really is Anne Boleyn actress Jodie Turner-Smith, posing up a storm for the new Pirelli calendar. The British star, 37, radiates serenity in a figure-hugging metallic gown.
Jodie’s not the only British woman to shine in the famous calendar – Bridgerton beauty Simone Ashley, below, also appears, posing in a nude bathing suit on a riverbank.
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Jodie Turner-Smith, 37, radiates serenity in a figure-hugging metallic gown for the new Pirelli calendar
The new edition was shot by photographer Ethan James Green, who tells me getting ‘Anne Boleyn’ to pose for him is just the start of his royal ambition: he’d love to work with the Duchess of Sussex next. ‘I’m very American. I would work with Meghan – that would be really lovely. I’d just want to capture her. I’d want to take a portrait of her that represents who she is.’
The 2025 line-up of stars also includes French actor Vincent Cassel, Indian model Padma Lakshmi, in a wispy thin tulle dress, and the performance artist Martine Gutierrez, who poses naked with just a piece of driftwood covering her modesty.
Phil lassos his lady
Ted Lasso heartthrob Phil Dunster has got engaged, I can reveal.
The 32-year-old actor has been in a relationship with director Eleanor ‘Ellie’ Heydon for several years. The couple, right, live together in East London.
Eleanor was spotted at the Sag Awards earlier this year with a sparkler on her engagement finger.
Phil told the Off Menu podcast he had recently popped the question, referring to Eleanor as ‘my fiancee’.
For Zac’s eyes only!
Socialite Hum Fleming showed off her cheeky side on a recent yacht trip.
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Socialite Hum Fleming showed off her cheeky side modelling a £360 see-through net dress by resort wear designer Kalita on a recent yacht trip
Fashion PR Hum – the 34-year-old great-niece of James Bond author Ian Fleming – put on an eye-catching display, modelling a £360 see-through net dress by resort wear designer Kalita.
She has told her admiring Instagram followers her ‘perfect body’ was down to boxing classes. Hum is dating Tory peer Zac Goldsmith, who has referred to her as his ‘future wife’. No wonder!
Kate Williams, the TV historian, has admitted to being ‘obsessed’ with leading royal historical figures to the extent that they haunt her at night.
She said: ‘Once I was dreaming that I was being cuddled by Charles II and I woke up and my blanket had covered my head. I was smothering myself and I thought it was Charles II who’d landed on me!’
Oh, Baby! That’s not very much
You might think that Baby Reindeer creator Richard Gadd would be living like a king after giving Netflix one of its biggest successes.
Yet, amazingly, he paid himself just £50,000 after the show went out. That’s a drop in the ocean compared to how much Netflix would have made on the stalker drama, which drew 252million viewers.
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You might think that Baby Reindeer creator Richard Gadd (seen with costar Jessica Gunning) would be living like a king after giving Netflix one of its biggest successes, but he paid himself just £50,000 after the show went out
Gadd paid himself with a director’s loan, while his firm, RRSG, actually made less profit than last year.
Are British film director Guy Ritchie and American actor Stanley Tucci planning to work together?
I ask as the pair seem to have something of a summer bromance brewing.
Firstly, Ritchie’s wife Jacqui Ainsley hinted at a mutual holiday in Florence by tagging Tucci in a photo. Then Tucci followed by praising Ritchie’s Cashmere Caveman Co table as he demonstrated outdoors cooking in an Instagram post by his wife, Felicity.
Last month, Tucci’s cookware brand was signed up by John Lewis. Maybe a collaboration is cooking…
Gary Lineker has finally won over Croydon locals close to one of his development projects.
On his third attempt the pundit has been granted permission to demolish a four-bedroom bungalow and replace it with two semi-detached houses.
His first plans had 50 objections from residents, his second 24, before approval was given.
Rapper Skepta must be a glutton for punishment. The Tottenham-born grime artist has taken up the Russian practice of Parenie, which involves being pummeled with fistfuls of birch, oak and eucalyptus twigs while lying face down on a pile of wet leaves in a steam room.
Devotees are then doused in buckets of ice and plunged into a freezing pool. Maybe hanging out in Hollywood with his friend Adele has given him the idea.
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Rapper Skepta (pictured) must be a glutton for punishment as he has taken up Parenie, which involves being pummeled with fistfuls of birch, oak and eucalyptus twigs while lying face down on a pile of wet leaves in a steam room
Claudia clams up
Contestants on The Traitors are banned from speaking to host Claudia Winkleman off-camera… in case the others suspect them of being traitors.
Miles Asteri, who appeared in the second series of the hit show, told me: ‘We’re not supposed to have time with her. She’s not supposed to have favourites.’
He added: ‘If someone was talking to her too much, you’d think, “That’s a Traitor talking to Claudia…” so it’s all very limited. The time you do have is short and sweet.’
Building on this momentum, Meghan is preparing for an official visit to Colombia, scheduled for later this year. Invited by Colombia’s Vice President Francia Márquez, this visit will focus on promoting safer digital environments and addressing the challenges of cyberbullying and online exploitation, particularly in relation to children’s mental health. The visit is highly anticipated, not only because of its humanitarian focus but also due to its potential implications for Meghan’s future role on the global stage.
