In a conversation with The Daily Mail, James Middleton confessed his latest past time, an activity he claims to be ‘a balm for troubled minds.’ His definition does not take us with surprise since he has always been very open about his bouts of depressions and the struggle he undergoes while dealing with it.
The Independent | James Middleton has come out with the weirdest of hobbies as of recent
It was this restlessness in his nature that compelled his family to gift him a colony of 1000 alive and well Buckfast bees back in 2011. Kate Middleton, the wife of Prince William, who is third in the line of succession in the British Royal family, conspired with her sister Pippa and her parents in choosing this unusual gift for him.
It was sent to him through a delivery van abuzz with a cautionary warning that revealed the present inside. For sure it was a thoughtful present which hooked James Middleton for years to come. It also ensured that he attained the peace of mind he was looking for while feeling overwhelmed by acting as a director for the greeting card company, Boomf.
His 24th birthday present transformed into a revolutionary object for him, birthing his unexpected lifelong passion. Since then, he has invested days and weeks around his beloved beehives, collecting 50 to 100 jars of honey each year. These products of his hard labor are gifted by him to his close friends and family relatives as a gesture of affection and love.
Unsplash | The ample jars of natural honey come as an added advantage to his friends and family
James Middleton deems his hobby as a form of active meditation to ward away ill thoughts and keeping oneself sane. This hobby might appear unseemly for the brother of Kate Middleton, who occupies a very respectable designation in the Royal Monarchy.
However, beekeeping is an activity that has attracted the elite class in the recent global COVID-19 pandemic as meaningful engagement, that is bringing everyone closer to nature and helping conserve the ecological system of the world because beekeeping not only involves keeping bees as pets of sorts but, also developing an entire habitat for them. Interestingly, as of recent, even Leonardo DiCaprio, Morgan Freeman, and Scarlett Johansson have jumped on the underrated bandwagon of beekeeping.
Unsplash | Beekeeping requires a lot of careful attention, as well as a proper habitat
He and his fiancée, Alizee Thevenet, are spending the quarantine in the Middleton Family Home, whiling away the time catering to the 500,000 bees at the Buckberry Manor, since Kate and William are entirely too busy with their royal duties and parenting responsibilities for three young children to engage in these frivolities.