Prime Minister Stephen Harper's wife probably would have preferred a taste of honey but ended up on the business end of a bee sting.

Laureen Harper was taking a look at a bee hive on the rooftop of Toronto's Royal York hotel Sunday, but she and the hotel chef got a bit close and were stung.

The bee hive is part of the hotel's effort to provide in-house honey for its restaurant and to help the environment by providing bees to pollinate area gardens and parks.

Video footage on Toronto television station CP 24 appeared to show the chef getting the most attention from the bees — Harper apparently escaped with one sting.

Laureen Harper didn't appear at all fazed by the stinging rebuke handed out by the bees, and for good reason.

The Prime Minister's Office says she is very comfortable around bees as her father raised bees on the family farm.