{"id":933182,"date":"2026-05-02T15:46:20","date_gmt":"2026-05-02T15:46:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/933182\/"},"modified":"2026-05-02T15:46:20","modified_gmt":"2026-05-02T15:46:20","slug":"melanias-white-house-beehive-and-honey-strike-sweet-note-during-royals-visit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/933182\/","title":{"rendered":"Melania’s White House beehive and honey strike sweet note during royals’ visit"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Fox
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

The White House has been buzzing \u2014 and not just because of this week\u2019s\u00a0high-profile state visit\u00a0<\/a>from Britain\u2019s King Charles III and Queen Camilla.<\/p>\n

The royal couple wrapped up their four-day U.S. visit Thursday with a formal farewell from President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump, and an unexpected highlight of the week centered on a distinctly sweet tradition: the\u00a0White House honey program.<\/a><\/p>\n

The first lady expanded the program just days before the monarchs\u2019 visit, unveiling a new beehive designed to look like the White House on the South Lawn.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The White House honey program became a sweet highlight of King Charles III and Queen Camilla\u2019s state visit. POOL\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

The hive and the base were designed by White House staff and crafted by a Virginia artisan, according to the White House.<\/p>\n

It joins two existing hives that have been on the grounds since 2009 and can reportedly grow to roughly 70,000 bees in peak summer months, producing up to 225 pounds of honey annually.<\/p>\n

The new hive is expected to increase production by about 30 pounds per year, allowing for more use of the honey in White House kitchens, official gifts and donations to local\u00a0food kitchens, <\/a>according to the White House.<\/p>\n

That honey quickly became a sweet part of the royal visit.<\/p>\n

King Charles\u00a0<\/a>and Queen Camilla \u2014 both longtime supporters of beekeeping \u2014 toured the newly expanded hive on Tuesday with the Trumps on the South Lawn.<\/p>\n

The tour likely made the royal couple feel right at home, as King Charles keeps beehives at his private residence in England and Queen Camilla supports global bee conservation efforts, according to The Associated Press.<\/p>\n

First Lady Melania Trump expanded the honey program with a new hive, which the royals toured. via REUTERS<\/p>\n

During the visit, White House assistant pastry chef Carlo Figarella said everybody in attendance would go home the next day \u201cwith one of these little jars of honey,\u201d according to\u00a0The Independent.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll put in extra for Their Majesties, yes?\u201d the first lady joked.<\/p>\n

She added, \u201cBecause they are lovers of honey.\u201d<\/p>\n

The White House honey was not only given as gifts to guests, but was also highlighted in dishes served at Tuesday night\u2019s\u00a0state dinner.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0multi-course meal, held in the East Room and attended by roughly 130 guests including business leaders, lawmakers and media figures, featured seasonal ingredients and garden-inspired dishes, as Fox News Digital previously reported.<\/p>\n

The dessert\u00a0put the honey front and center, according to the White House.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Guests enjoyed almond joconde and a French sponge cake, served with cr\u00e8me fra\u00eeche ice cream and White House honey.<\/p>\n

White House honey was gifted to guests and featured in state dinner desserts, supporting the Kitchen Garden. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Other courses included garden vegetable velout\u00e9,\u00a0spring herb ravioli\u00a0<\/a>and Dover sole meuni\u00e8re, with some ingredients sourced directly from the White House Kitchen Garden, another feature supported by the beekeeping program through pollination.<\/p>\n

The bees play a key role in maintaining the garden, along with the Flower Cutting Garden\u00a0and vegetation\u00a0across the National Mall, which dates back to the Obama administration when the first hives were installed.<\/p>\n

The honey itself, known for its light clover and basswood flavor with a hint of subtle citrus notes, has become a signature ingredient for executive residence chefs, according to the White House.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s used regularly in everything\u00a0from teas<\/a>\u00a0to dressings and desserts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The White House has been buzzing \u2014 and not just because of this week\u2019s\u00a0high-profile state visit\u00a0from Britain\u2019s King…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":933183,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[7708],"tags":[119709,32,518,13859,2607,5105,7710,519,448,727,1018],"class_list":["post-933182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-royals","tag-desserts","tag-donald-trump","tag-king-charles-iii","tag-melania-trump","tag-queen-camilla","tag-royal","tag-royal-families","tag-royal-family","tag-royals","tag-us-news","tag-white-house"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116505765398608300","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/933182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=933182"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/933182\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/933183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=933182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=933182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=933182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}