The Bowes-Lyon Sisters – 2 Sisters the British Royal Family Wrote Out of History
Colton
530 views
2 sisters. 5 cousins. 1 hospital. And a reference book that recorded two living women as dead for 24 years.
In 1986, a woman was buried in a Surrey cemetery under a plastic tag bearing a serial number. Only hospital staff attended. Her name was Nerissa Bowes-Lyon, and she was a first cousin of Queen Elizabeth II and a niece of the Queen Mother. According to Burke's Peerage, the definitive register of the British aristocracy, she had already been dead for 46 years.
Nerissa and her younger sister Katherine were born with severe intellectual disabilities and never learned to speak. In 1941 they were admitted to the Royal Earlswood Hospital in Redhill, Surrey, along with three of their first cousins from their mother's side, all five arriving on the same day. The 1963 edition of Burke's Peerage recorded Nerissa's death as 1940 and Katherine's as 1961. Both women were alive. The entry stood uncorrected until a Sun photographer posed as a relative in April 1987 and put Katherine on the front page.
This is the full story: the Trefusis bloodline the condition actually came from, the Mental Deficiency Act that supplied the word "imbecile," the asylum Prince Albert opened and Queen Victoria chartered, the nurses who watched both sisters curtsey to the television whenever the Queen appeared, the League of Friends letter that told the Queen Mother in 1982 that her nieces were alive, and the reason the popular royal cover-up theory does not survive contact with the genetics.
Katherine Bowes-Lyon died in 2014, aged 87, after 73 years in institutional care.
TOPICS COVERED Nerissa and Katherine Bowes-Lyon • Royal Earlswood Hospital • Burke's Peerage 1963 • Idonea, Rosemary and Etheldreda Fane • Fenella Hepburn-Stuart-Forbes-Trefusis • John Herbert Bowes-Lyon • Baron Clinton • Mental Deficiency Act 1913 • British eugenics movement • Professor David Danks • The Sun 1987 • The Queen's Hidden Cousins • The Crown "The Hereditary Principle" fact check • learning disability history Britain • Redstone Cemetery Redhill
SOURCES
Wikipedia, "Nerissa and Katherine Bowes-Lyon," "John Herbert Bowes-Lyon," "Anne Bowes-Lyon," "Royal Earlswood Hospital," "Mental Deficiency Act 1913."
The Sun, 6 April 1987, "Queen's Cousin Locked in Madhouse," as reproduced in subsequent coverage.
The Glasgow Herald, 8 April 1987, "Royal Nieces Cover-up Denied By Lord Clinton," statements of Gerard Fane-Trefusis, 22nd Baron Clinton.
The Age (Melbourne), 9 April 1987, "Bowes-Lyon retardation gene may have killed males," comments of Professor David Danks.
Associated Press wire reporting, April 1987, statement of the East Surrey Health Authority general manager on family visits.
Maclean's, 20 April 1987, and United Press International, April 1987, contemporary accounts of the exposure and public reaction.
"The Queen's Hidden Cousins," Channel 4, 2011, directed by Kelly Close for Minnow Films, testimony of former Royal Earlswood nursing staff including ward sister Dot Penfold.
Daily Mail, 2011, coverage of the documentary and family responses including statements attributed to Lady Elizabeth Anson.
The Daily Telegraph, 2000, "Queen's cousin in 'sub-standard' care home."
Burke's Peerage, 1963 edition, entries recording the deaths of Nerissa Bowes-Lyon (1940) and Katherine Bowes-Lyon (1961); Burke's Peerage 2003 for Fane family dates, via thepeerage.com.
Exploring Surrey's Past and the Surrey History Centre, institutional history and records of Royal Earlswood Hospital, accessions 392, 6523, 6817 and 7338. Patient records remain access-restricted.
Historic England and countyasylums.co.uk, architectural and institutional history including Prince Albert's foundation stone (1853) and Queen Victoria's Royal Charter (1862).
UK Parliament, Mental Deficiency Act 1913, statutory definitions; Mental Health Act 1959 (repeal).
Professor Jan Walmsley, published commentary on the social history of learning disability in Britain.
Surrey Live, 2014, reporting on the death of Katherine Bowes-Lyon. Unofficial Royalty and Find a Grave, genealogical and burial records, Redstone Cemetery.
The Crown, series 4, episode 7, "The Hereditary Principle," Netflix, 2020, referenced as dramatisation only; fictional elements identified by subsequent fact-checking in Radio Times and The Daily Telegraph.
The Bowes-Lyon Sisters – 2 Sisters the British Royal Family Wrote Out of History
Colton
530 views
2 sisters. 5 cousins. 1 hospital. And a reference book that recorded two living women as dead for 24 years.
In 1986, a woman was buried in a Surrey cemetery under a plastic tag bearing a serial number. Only hospital staff attended. Her name was Nerissa Bowes-Lyon, and she was a first cousin of Queen Elizabeth II and a niece of the Queen Mother. According to Burke's Peerage, the definitive register of the British aristocracy, she had already been dead for 46 years.
Nerissa and her younger sister Katherine were born with severe intellectual disabilities and never learned to speak. In 1941 they were admitted to the Royal Earlswood Hospital in Redhill, Surrey, along with three of their first cousins from their mother's side, all five arriving on the same day. The 1963 edition of Burke's Peerage recorded Nerissa's death as 1940 and Katherine's as 1961. Both women were alive. The entry stood uncorrected until a Sun photographer posed as a relative in April 1987 and put Katherine on the front page.
This is the full story: the Trefusis bloodline the condition actually came from, the Mental Deficiency Act that supplied the word "imbecile," the asylum Prince Albert opened and Queen Victoria chartered, the nurses who watched both sisters curtsey to the television whenever the Queen appeared, the League of Friends letter that told the Queen Mother in 1982 that her nieces were alive, and the reason the popular royal cover-up theory does not survive contact with the genetics.
Katherine Bowes-Lyon died in 2014, aged 87, after 73 years in institutional care.
TOPICS COVERED Nerissa and Katherine Bowes-Lyon • Royal Earlswood Hospital • Burke's Peerage 1963 • Idonea, Rosemary and Etheldreda Fane • Fenella Hepburn-Stuart-Forbes-Trefusis • John Herbert Bowes-Lyon • Baron Clinton • Mental Deficiency Act 1913 • British eugenics movement • Professor David Danks • The Sun 1987 • The Queen's Hidden Cousins • The Crown "The Hereditary Principle" fact check • learning disability history Britain • Redstone Cemetery Redhill
SOURCES
Wikipedia, "Nerissa and Katherine Bowes-Lyon," "John Herbert Bowes-Lyon," "Anne Bowes-Lyon," "Royal Earlswood Hospital," "Mental Deficiency Act 1913."
The Sun, 6 April 1987, "Queen's Cousin Locked in Madhouse," as reproduced in subsequent coverage.
The Glasgow Herald, 8 April 1987, "Royal Nieces Cover-up Denied By Lord Clinton," statements of Gerard Fane-Trefusis, 22nd Baron Clinton.
The Age (Melbourne), 9 April 1987, "Bowes-Lyon retardation gene may have killed males," comments of Professor David Danks.
Associated Press wire reporting, April 1987, statement of the East Surrey Health Authority general manager on family visits.
Maclean's, 20 April 1987, and United Press International, April 1987, contemporary accounts of the exposure and public reaction.
"The Queen's Hidden Cousins," Channel 4, 2011, directed by Kelly Close for Minnow Films, testimony of former Royal Earlswood nursing staff including ward sister Dot Penfold.
Daily Mail, 2011, coverage of the documentary and family responses including statements attributed to Lady Elizabeth Anson.
The Daily Telegraph, 2000, "Queen's cousin in 'sub-standard' care home."
Burke's Peerage, 1963 edition, entries recording the deaths of Nerissa Bowes-Lyon (1940) and Katherine Bowes-Lyon (1961); Burke's Peerage 2003 for Fane family dates, via thepeerage.com.
Exploring Surrey's Past and the Surrey History Centre, institutional history and records of Royal Earlswood Hospital, accessions 392, 6523, 6817 and 7338. Patient records remain access-restricted.
Historic England and countyasylums.co.uk, architectural and institutional history including Prince Albert's foundation stone (1853) and Queen Victoria's Royal Charter (1862).
UK Parliament, Mental Deficiency Act 1913, statutory definitions; Mental Health Act 1959 (repeal).
Professor Jan Walmsley, published commentary on the social history of learning disability in Britain.
Surrey Live, 2014, reporting on the death of Katherine Bowes-Lyon. Unofficial Royalty and Find a Grave, genealogical and burial records, Redstone Cemetery.
The Crown, series 4, episode 7, "The Hereditary Principle," Netflix, 2020, referenced as dramatisation only; fictional elements identified by subsequent fact-checking in Radio Times and The Daily Telegraph.