Kate Middleton Got Her Brother James the Most Thoughtful Birthday Gift
James Middleton is mostly known for his love of dogs, which he often shares on Instagram. But there's another creature he enjoys caring for, too—and he has his family, in part, to thank for it.
In an article for the Daily Mail, James revealed that his years-long beekeeping hobby was jumpstarted in 2011, after his fellow Middletons—including the future Queen, Kate—banded together to get him his first hive. "My family—mum, dad and my sisters Catherine and Pippa—clubbed together to buy what for me was the most fantastic birthday gift imaginable," James wrote. "A delivery van arrived with a large buzzing box with the cautionary label: 'Live Bees.' Inside was the nucleus—the start—of my colony: 1,000 Buckfast bees."
Years later, beekeeping is still among James's choice pastimes. He explained that it helped him get through depression ("When I’m with my bees it’s as if someone’s pressed the mute button on everything that’s worrying me"), and that his partner has even gotten in on it.
"I’m glad, too, that my fiancée, Alizee, is a convert," James wrote. "Early in our relationship I bought her a beekeeping suit and when she’s helping me with the hives, as she has been during the weeks of lockdown we’ve spent at Bucklebury, she couldn’t be happier."
The couple had originally planned to tie the knot this summer, but due to the pandemic, their wedding was postponed. Fortunately, it seems, they've made the most of quarantine.
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