Video: Royals Outcasts: Why Two Cousins of Elizabeth II ended up in a mental institution
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
Royal families, despite their special status, are almost never immune from ordinary human problems and misfortunes. So, in the 1920s, two girls with mental disabilities were born in the family of the beloved brother of the Queen Mother. The parents were so afraid to tarnish the honor of the royal family that they even concealed the fact of the birth of children. All their lives, Nerissa and Catherine Bowes-Lyon lived in secret, they were carefully hidden, first in the family, and then in a special hospital. When, in 1987, journalists revealed this secret and learned about the "royal outcasts", several fantastic versions were born about who the mysterious prisoners really are, because the eldest of them was born only a couple of months later than the now living queen.
The mother of Elizabeth II always aroused sincere admiration among her subjects. The Queen was a highly educated and never discouraged woman. Today she is called the "Queen Mother" (probably not to be confused with her daughter). Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon came from an old noble English family and had many brothers and sisters. Most of all, the future queen was friends with her older brother John. However, after participating in the battles of the First World War, the man suffered from neurasthenia and nervous breakdowns. It is possible that this affected the health of his children.
The Queen's beloved brother married Lady Fenella Hepburn-Stuart-Forbes-Trefusis, and they had five children. True, for many years everyone knew only about three daughters. The first child died in infancy, the next two girls were absolutely healthy and they were destined for the happy fate of princesses close to the English throne, but then a great misfortune came to the family. The born daughter Nerissa aroused doctors' suspicions of a severe mental disorder. The parents did not make a statement about her birth and hid the very fact of the birth of a "flawed" baby.
Today it is difficult to judge the severity of the little princess's illness and how it was possible to recognize the illness immediately after birth, but the girl was locked in a separate room. She was isolated from her family and all people, she was not taught anything and hardly even communicated normally. Under such conditions, the "special child" had no chance of rehabilitation. After a while, her sister Katherine joined Nerissa - another "unfortunate option". Both girls remained the only company and family for each other for life.
From a modern point of view, the parents of Nerissa and Catherine made at least a big mistake, if not a crime, but in those days such behavior, if it were known, would have caused approval and understanding. Mental illness was considered something shameful in society, especially since it could also be inherited. It is possible that the parents tried in this way to protect the reputation of the eldest daughters, who already had few chances of a good marriage.
The "special" princesses never learned to speak. Their whole life was locked up. John and Fenella took care of them themselves, without even inviting specialists - they were afraid that the family secret would come out. In 1930, the husband died, and the noble lady was left alone. The widow could no longer keep the secret of the two sick children on her own, especially since the girls grew up and it became more and more difficult to cope with them.
With the help of her father, who was aware of the problem, Lady Fenella placed her daughters in the closed Earlwood Psychiatric Hospital in Surrey and paid not only for the staff, but also for the secrecy. In Burke's book of peers (a census of all noble lords), records were made that Nerissa and Catherine died (in 1940 and 1961, respectively). The family secret was preserved for many years.
When journalists began to investigate this issue, it was possible to find out from the records in the clinic's visitors' book that until 1960 the girls were visited by their mother and grandfather. During these years, Nerissa and Katherine still sometimes received gifts and new clothes. Then the queen's cousins were left all alone. It is difficult to assume that the sisters were not aware of the "little family problem". Bowes-Lyon's two eldest daughters, by the way, got married quite successfully. One of them even received the title of Danish princess, however, apparently, they chose to forget about their sick sisters. The queen herself undoubtedly took part in the fate of Nerissa and Catherine - on her behalf, some amounts were sometimes transferred to the hospital. However, this was where the royal attention ended.
According to the recollections of the clinic staff, their patients were not at all aggressive. They just stopped developing at the level of five-year-olds. Sometimes they were naughty, had problems with coordination, but they did not cause big problems. One of the sisters later said:
The sick women were very attached to each other, and they grew old together. In 1986, Nerissa died, and for Catherine, life seemed to stop. She outlived her sister by almost 30 years, but over the years she never received attention from relatives. However, the death of Nerissa contributed to the fact that the public learned about the "secret sisters of the queen". One of the journalists, walking through the cemetery, noticed a strange plastic plaque over a fresh grave. It had a serial number and the name of one of the branches of the royal family known to every Englishman. The man conducted his own investigation and managed to get to the bottom of the truth.
The wave of indignation after the disclosure of the unsightly truth touched both Elizabeth - both mother and daughter. Korolev was accused of inattention to the closest relatives, because the Queen Mother for many years supported a charitable foundation that helps people with mental disabilities, and did not allocate funds for the monument to her own niece. Further, more, in 2011 on one of the British TV channels a documentary film about the cousins of Elizabeth II, called "The Queen's Hidden Cousins", was released. In it, the staff of the clinic told the whole world that noble patients did not even have personal clothes, they were dressed in government clothes. The royal family was forced to make excuses.
However, no explanation could influence human fantasy. In connection with this story, several conspiracy theories have arisen, and they are still actively discussed. The most exciting one involves the replacement of babies in the style of Alexandre Dumas: supposedly, the future Queen Elizabeth was born mentally disabled and she was replaced by a healthy cousin, because both were born in 1926 with a difference of only ten weeks.
By the way, another famous royal prisoner, "the man in the iron mask" was one of the mysterious personalities who inspired the great poets and writers
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