Royal beekeeper informs bees that Queen Elizabeth II died and King Charles III is their new master in centuries-old tradition

• The royal beekeeper informed the bees of the Queen's death in keeping with a tradition.
• He also instructed the bees to be kind to their new master King Charles III, per MailOnline.

The royal beekeeper informed the bees of Buckingham Palace and Clarence House of Queen Elizabeth II's death in keeping with a centuries-old tradition.

John Chapple, 79, also told the bees that King Charles III is their new master, instructing them to treat him well, according to an interview Chapple gave to MailOnline.

He first traveled to Clarence House, the residence of the Prince of Wales, before heading to Buckingham Palace, the monarch's home, to carry out the ritual on Friday, per the outlet

The Queen died on Thursday and Charles III, who immediately assumed the throne, was formally proclaimed king on Saturday.

The ritual, which has unknown origins, involves knocking on each hive and informing them of the death of their keeper and who will succeed them in a hushed tone, MailOnline reported. There are five hives at Buckingham Palace and two at Clarence House, the royal beekeeper said.

Chapple, who also oversees hives at the residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury, tied black ribbons into bows and draped them on the hives as part of the tradition, he told MailOnline.

"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," Chapple said from the gardens of Buckingham Palace.

He continued: "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?"

Telling the bees is a European tradition, which is hundreds of years old, in which bees are informed of major events in their owners' lives.

According to the 1901 book "New England Legends and Folk Lore," the "very old superstition" was that bees must be told of their master's or mistress' death or calamity would ensue. Failing to carry out the ritual was believed to lead to the bees deserting their hives, failing to produce honey, or dying, the book said.

The tradition was ubiquitous in England, and parts of Wales and Ireland, throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, according to "The Penguin Guide to the Superstitions of Britain and Ireland." The custom of "telling the bees" was first referenced in 1621, the guide said.