The Prince of Wales jokingly warned stallholders to be "careful what you say" as he teased his wife about one of her favourite hobbies during their outing in London on Thursday.
Prince William, 43, and Kate, 44, enjoyed a day celebrating culture and communities around the River Thames, sampling cheese, coffee, beer and honey at Borough Market and the Bermondsey Beer Mile. At Fabal Beerhall, the royal couple were offered to taste some raw honey, which was used to brew the beers and ciders.
Kate showed a lot of interest, asking "Where are the hives?" and asking, "Is this from last year?" as she sampled some from a jar. She spoke about how different flowers can make bees' honey taste "very different" – with William soon intervening to warn the vendors not to say too much.
Laughing, he revealed: "Catherine's got her own bees. She knows a lot about bees. Be careful what you say, you might be corrected!" Luckily, Kate was amused, though she was quick to clarify, "No, no, no! That's not it!"
Elsewhere on Thursday, the couple visited the RNLI lifeboat station in Westminster, which is the busiest in the UK, looking windswept as they enjoyed a fast-paced ride across the River Thames.
© Getty ImagesKate's beekeeping hobby
Last May, a photo of Kate in a beekeeping suit tending to a beehive was shared on the Prince and Princess of Wales's official Instagram account to mark World Bee Day.
The caption on the post read: "We are buzzing about #WorldBeeDay. Bees are a vital part of our ecosystem and today is a great opportunity to raise awareness of the essential role bees and other pollinators play in keeping people and the planet healthy."
© Matt PorteousThe Princess looked very different to usual in a full beekeeping suit, protective hat veil, and Wellington boots. Royal fans were delighted by the photo, even calling her the "Queen bee".
The Princess of Wales is known to keep bees at Anmer Hall, the Wales family's private retreat in Norfolk. The royal mother-of-three brought a jar of her own honey from the hives for schoolchildren to sample during a visit to the Natural History Museum's biodiversity hub in June 2021.
© InstagramHer brother, James Middleton, also loves bees and was given one of his first hives by his parents, Michael and Carole Middleton.
Writing for the Daily Mail in 2020, he said: "On a warm summer's day there are few places on Earth I'd rather be than tending my bees." He added that he owns almost half a million bees in eight hives at the family home, Bucklebury Manor in Berkshire.
Royal beekeepers
The royal family has a long history of beekeeping, and in 2020, Queen Camilla became president of the charity Bees For Development. Camilla is also a keen apiarist and keeps bees at Raymill, her six-bedroom retreat in Lacock, Wiltshire.
And King Charles's private residence, Highgrove House, is home to a kaleidoscopic wildflower meadow teeming with 120 different plant species and 30 beehives. The bees produce a 'Royal Garden Honey' that can be purchased from the Highgrove Gardens website.
Over in the US, Meghan Markle and her family are keen beekeepers. She and her daughter, four-year-old Princess Lilibet, were seen wearing matching beekeeping outfits in a sweet video shared to her Instagram account last year.
