The royal family’s summer has been disrupted by an unexpected problem: a wasp invasion at Sandringham, their Norfolk estate.
Queen Camilla revealed during a public event on August 21 at the Ebor Festival that the estate is struggling with “terrible” wasp activity. She added that her own bees at her private Wiltshire home are also swarming, making things even more difficult.
Just days earlier, King Charles III ordered warning signs to be placed around Sandringham to alert visitors that wasp activity in the area was unusually high.
Beekeeping is a popular hobby in the royal family. Queen Camilla tends bees at home, Princess Kate Middleton keeps hives at Anmer Hall on the Sandringham grounds, and Meghan Markle has also promoted beekeeping on her show With Love, Meghan.
The wasps aren’t the only issue facing Sandringham. Reports suggest King Charles is also upset about a shortage of pheasants on the estate. The decline could force him to cancel the traditional Boxing Day shoot this winter, an annual holiday tradition he values deeply.
Royal expert Hilary Fordwich explained that Charles is “livid, frustrated and disappointed,” since the shoot is a way of bringing the extended royal family together during the holidays. The King, who is battling an undisclosed form of cancer, has always opposed importing birds from elsewhere, preferring to maintain the estate’s natural game population. Unfortunately, that eco-friendly approach has not worked out this year.
Between the wasp infestation and the pheasant shortage, Sandringham has been facing an unusually troubled summer.
