I should never have doubted Homer.
Inevitably trying was the first step towards failure and none of the eggs were developed into queen cells. Why? Don't know.
None of the eggs from the cassette had any royal jelly which I expected so did I take them out too soon? Don't know.
I will have a go through the stuff I've collected about raising queens to try and see what I did wrong.
Will I have another go? Next year

However something happened recently that makes me think I will have a go at something else.
Honey bees have been around for a very long time and originally evolved from wasps. As flowering plants developed, some wasps thought this nectar stuff wasn't too bad and so developed into honey bees.
Being resourceful creatures they evolved and adapted to their environment and spread from Africa throughout every continent except Antarctica.
The British bee was very black in colour and evolved to fit our climate but they were virtually wiped in the 1920's by a respiratory disease imported from Italy called the Isle of Wight disease which, by an amazing coincidence, started in the Isle of Wight.
To replace the native British Black Bee, bees were imported from Europe - bees, not ideally suited to our climate.
The BBB was pretty much better at everything than the European bees - better foraging, more honey production, better at surviving winter etc.
However there are still a few outposts of BBB and its possible to buy BBB queens.

I have been thinking of getting one but it seems to me a problem would be next year when her colony swarms. The colony will produce a new BBB queen that then leaves the hive to mate but she will mate with the local non BBB drones so when she returns she will produce hybrid bees with a mixture of BBB and non BBB genes and so not be pure BBB's.
The old pure BBB queen would leave the hive and its unlikely I would be able to catch the swarm.

Does this matter? I think so. For some reason having native English bees seems worth having a go at.
One way round this would be to be right on top of her swarming instinct and during May and June regularly check the colony and as soon as the first queen cells appear, move them into a nuc box with some brood and honey frames and let them produce a new queen. She then leaves the nuc and mates with non BBB drones so producing hybrid bees but the original pure BBB queen is till in the original hive.
Even if I manage this I would need to replace her after 3 years anyway.

I had wondered if it were possible to set up some sort of 'Jurassic Park' in a remote area where I could set up a few BBB hives. Drones collect in what are called Drone Collection Areas which can be up to 40m above the ground and be up to 200 m in diameter. and queens will fly up to 3 miles to these areas to mate. However the queen needs to go to several DCA's to mate in order to in order to achieve the genetic diversity the colony needs.

I've decided to give it a go and she is due to arrive at any time.