Contents
This is one of the darkest episodes in the history of the British royal family. Two cousins of Queen Elizabeth II spent decades in a psychiatric hospital, forgotten by the world. All for fear of spoiling the perfect image of the Royal Family.
- Nerissa and Katherine Bowes-Lyon were born with severe mental disorders
- They were the daughters of Queen Mother Elizabeth’s brother, close cousins of the now reigning Queen Elizabeth II
- The royal family decided to put them in a mental hospital
- The British public learned about their existence late, for a long time the subjects of the queen were convinced that the sisters had been dead for a long time
- More current information can be found on the Onet homepage.
The forgotten cousins of Queen Elizabeth II
Nerissa and Katherine Bowes-Lyon were two of the five daughters of the brother of Queen Elizabeth II and Elizabeth II’s uncle John Bowes-Lyon and his wife Fenelli née Hepburn-Stuart-Forbes-Trefusis. Nerissa was born in 1919, Katherine was born seven years later. Both were born with a serious mental disability, therefore their birth was not accompanied by official statements typical of the royal family.
The girls could not speak, it was difficult to communicate with them, they only gesticulated and made strange sounds. Their minds stopped at the level of a few-year-old child.
Disability disturbed the ideal image of the royal family, and several dozen years ago there was a belief that such a disability could be the result of incest. And the relationship between relatives in the Windsor family was not unique. Therefore, in 1941 the family decided to send 15-year-old Katherine and 22-year-old Nerissa to a closed facility for the mentally ill, Royal Earlswood Hospital in Surrey.
In the hospital, it turned out that they understood more than they seemed. They were able to recognize the most important people of the royal family. As the nurse taking care of the girls later revealed, when they saw Queen Elizabeth II or the Queen Mother on TV, they usually bowed deeply. However, they suffered from insomnia, which was reflected in their nervous disposition.
- Prince Philip, DNA and a criminal puzzle from a hundred years ago
Years later, it was revealed that the conditions in the hospital were difficult. The girls did not have much of their own clothes, they often had to share clothes with other people there. There was also a lack of adequate staff and care in the center itself.
Where did the disease come from?
Nerissa and Katherine Bowes-Lyon both suffered from a genetic condition that did not affect Queen Elizabeth II or any of her descendants. Most likely it came from the girls’ maternal grandfather, Charles Trefusis, 21st Baron Clinton.
- 7 mental disorders that can destroy us
Therefore, the fears that the mental disorders of both girls could adversely affect the image of the Windsor family turned out to be unfounded.
Killed while alive
Katherine and Nerissa were “killed” by Burke’s Peerage, a regular almanac dedicated to the noble families of the United Kingdom. The 1963 edition reported that Nerissa died in 1940 and Katherine Bowes-Lyon in 1961.
- He pretended to be the devil, God and mental illness
Nerissa actually died in 1986 at the age of 66. She was buried in a grave marked only with a nameplate and serial number. Katherine stayed in the hospital until 1997, and when it was locked up, she was transferred to a nursing home in Surrey. There she died in 2014 at the age of 87.
When did the public find out about Katherine and Nerissa?
The public in Great Britain learned about the sisters only in 1987, one year after Nerissa’s death, thanks to the daily “The Sun”. Journalists discovered her modest grave, and learned that the funeral was not attended by representatives of the royal family, only members of the hospital staff were present. The hospital then confirmed the identities of both women and their ties to the royal family.
The sisters became famous again in 2011. The movie “The Queen’s Hidden Cousins” was broadcast on Channel 4, which suggested that they were not visited by anyone from the royal family. “I got the feeling they were forgotten,” said a former Earlswood Hospital nurse.
- The cruelest therapies in the history of medicine
Following the release of the document, sources close to Buckingham Palace described the claims as “complete lies.” «The Queen is very upset with the way this program was made. Both Katherine and Nerissa were very regularly visited by their family »- one tabloid quoted a person from the royal family’s entourage.
Queen Elizabeth II’s cousin, Lady Elizabeth Anson, also took the floor. “Fenella Bowes-Lyon, sister-in-law of Her Majesty the Queen Mother, visited her daughters regularly. She was the only one they recognized. The visits of other guests caused anxiety to both ladies in the hospital. I can also confirm that Fenella Bowes-Lyon together with her late brother Patrick, the 5th Earl of Lichfield and their cousin Katherine, organized a tombstone for Nerissa Bowes-Lyon, she said in a letter sent to the Daily Express.
You may be interested in:
- What was Prince Philip suffering from?
- What is the secret of Queen Elizabeth II’s longevity?
- What is Queen Elizabeth’s health?