The gift from the soccer star was a high point in a week that saw the monarch and his wife, Queen Camilla, return to work after a post-coronation break at Sandringham. Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother | Unofficial Royalty “It is not normal to doubt the word of members of the royal family.”, The Queen Mother reportedly learned of the Bowes-Lyon sisters in 1982, having believed them dead until that year. John was the brother of Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, the Queen Mother, so the two daughters were first cousins of Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Margaret, sharing one pair of grandparents, Claude Bowes-Lyon, 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne, and Cecilia Bowes-Lyon, Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne.[2]. — Not a subscriber? Sie wurde im Familienkreis beigesetzt. Moreover, because the women were committed almost five years after the abdication of Edward VIII, it seems unlikely that the decision was taken in reaction to the family’s close new ties to the throne. She had six brothers: David, John, Fergus, Patrick, Michael . Baron Clinton, ein entfernter Verwandter, sprach in einem Statement davon, dass seine Großtante Fenella, die Mutter der beiden Schwestern, das Formular für Burke’s Peerage wohl falsch ausgefüllt habe, da sie „eine zerstreute Person“ gewesen sei. Your IP: But Nerissa and Katherine aren't living in a tony royal residence; they reside in a drab mental health facility. King Charles and Queen Camilla are pictured with Pages of Honour and Ladies in Attendance, In the latest official portrait to mark the Coronation, King Charles and Queen Camilla are joined by those who played an instrumental role in the day, Why The Crown’s Josh O’Connor has criticised the culture secretary, Behind The Crown: The true story of the Queen’s cousins, Nerissa and Katherine Bowes-Lyon, The Queen's cousin and chief party planner, Lady Elizabeth Shakerley, has died aged 79. Queen Elizabeth, Katherine Bowes-Lyon, and the Royal Earlswood Mental Hospital in Redhill, Surrey. Elizabeth, née Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon, also called (1923-36) duchess of York, (1936-52) Queen Elizabeth, and the Queen Mother, (born August 4, 1900, St. Paul's Waldenbury, Hitchin, Hertfordshire, England—died March 30, 2002, Windsor, Berkshire), queen consort of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1936-52), wife of King George VI. Buckingham Palace declined to comment, calling the matter “an issue for the Bowes-Lyon family.” It also came to light that three other members of the Bowes-Lyon family with similar developmental disabilities were placed at Earlswood on the very same day as Katherine and Nerissa: their cousins, the three sisters Idonea, Etheldreda, and Rosemary Bowes-Lyon. Here is the real story of Nerissa and Katherine Bowes-Lyon, and how their lives were largely kept secret until shortly after Nerissa's grave was discovered following her death in 1986. King Robert II of Scotland, the first of the House of Stewart, granted Sir John Lyon the Thaneage of Glamis in 1372 as a reward for service. Erst später erhielt das Grab einen richtigen Grabstein,[6] der eigenen Angaben nach durch den Neffen und die Nichten der beiden Schwestern, Elizabeth Shakerley, Katherine Somervell und Patrick Anson, 5. Lady Elizabeth Anson, the granddaughter of Fenella Bowes-Lyon and the niece of Nerissa and Katherine Bowes-Lyon, disputed claims of a cover-up. He said that both Nerissa and Katherine developed dementia and were unable to recognise people. [6] According to a 2011 television documentary about the sisters, The Queen's Hidden Cousins, broadcast by Channel 4, "throughout their time at the hospital, there is no known record that the sisters were ever visited by any member of the Bowes-Lyon or royal families, despite their aunt, the Queen Mother, being a Patron of Mencap" (a charity for people with learning disabilities). Believed to be dead, Nerissa and Katherine Bowes-Lyon have in fact been institutionalized at a psychiatric ward since the early 1940s. In 1996, when Earlswood was shut down, the administrator of the hospital, Peter Kinsey, contacted the next-of-kin of all patients to inform them of the shutdown and discuss next steps. In The Crown, Princess Margaret learns through a therapist that two maternal cousins, Nerissa and Katherine Bowes-Lyon, who had been recorded as deceased, were in fact alive – confined to a mental hospital. Peter Morgan, however, hypothesizes on The Crown that the women were hidden away for reasons directly related to the monarchy. The Duke of York married Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon on 26 April, 1923, in Westminster Abbey. Katherine remained in hospital care for the rest of her life and died in 2014. “My family—the Bowes-Lyons—went from being minor Scottish aristocrats, to having a direct bloodline to the crown, resulting in the children of my brother [Katherine and Nerissa] and their first cousins [Idonea, Etheldreda, and Rosemary] paying a terrible price,” she explains. Brought up to duty, she worked to nurse troops in World War I when her home was . It doesn't seem so. She says in the episode, ‘Their illness, their idiocy and imbecility, would make people question the integrity of the bloodline. The documentary was directed by Kelly Close and made by Minnow Films, an independent production company, whose synopsis states that "Whilst their sisters Elizabeth and Anne enjoyed lives of privilege and inclusion in the upper echelons of the aristocracy, Katherine and Nerissa were all but forgotten, written out of family history." She discovers that the sisters, who suffered from developmental disabilities, have been secreted away in a mental hospital because, says the Queen Mother in the episode, ‘The hereditary principle already hangs by such a precarious thread… Throw in mental illness, and it’s over.’. In .css-umdwtv{-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-decoration-thickness:.0625rem;text-decoration-color:#FF3A30;text-underline-offset:0.25rem;color:inherit;-webkit-transition:background 0.4s;transition:background 0.4s;background:linear-gradient(#ffffff, #ffffff 50%, #d5dbe3 50%, #d5dbe3);-webkit-background-size:100% 200%;background-size:100% 200%;}.css-umdwtv:hover{color:#000000;text-decoration-color:border-link-body-hover;-webkit-background-position:100% 100%;background-position:100% 100%;}Season Four, Episode Seven of The Crown, titled “The Heredity Principle,” creator Peter Morgan delves into a shocking Windsor family secret: the institutionalization and subsequent abandonment of two of the Queen’s first cousins, who, owing to their developmental disabilities, were shamefully hidden from the public and declared legally dead. Katherine and Nerissa both had conditions which left them unable to speak, and at the ages of 15 and 22 they were sent to Royal Earlswood Institution for Mental Defectives in 1941 by their . Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. Decades later, the Windsors would likely prefer to leave this shameful episode consigned to the ash heap of the past, but Morgan has dragged the skeletons out of the royal closet, excavating the Windsors’ shameful secret in a tender episode about family, faith, and mental illness. In light of the traditions from which they come, it seems all the more significant that Royal Family members today – like the Dukes of Cambridge and Sussex – have made dismantling stigma around mental health such a priority. In 1987 an editor for Debrett’s said, “It would seem to me that their mother had more or less rejected them in her mind as being her daughters. Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon Biography - Facts, Childhood, Family Life ... John Fergus Bowes Lyon - Genealogy - Geni.com Both women were in fact alive, having been placed in the Royal Earlswood Hospital for mentally disabled people in 1941. Cloudflare Ray ID: 7d2fb7e5496030ee Queen Elizabeth: Behinderte Cousinen für tot erklärt Harriet Hepburn-Stuart-Forbes-Trefusis, The History of the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, "Behind The Crown: The true story of the Queen's cousins, Nerissa and Katherine Bowes-Lyon", Bowes-Lyon Retardation Gene May Have Killed Males, "Queen's cousin in 'sub-standard' care home", "Lady in Waiting by Anne Glenconner review – a bestselling glimpse of the royals", "Minnow Films | The Queen's Hidden Cousins", "TV review: The Queen's Hidden Cousins; Waking Up To Insomnia; Symphony", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nerissa_and_Katherine_Bowes-Lyon&oldid=1147750433, This page was last edited on 1 April 2023, at 23:17. [10] Selbst der Vater der beiden Schwestern habe sie im Pflegeheim nie besucht. Born seven years apart in 1919 and 1926, respectively, Nerissa and Katherine both had severe development disabilities from birth and never learned to talk. This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks. Half brother of Private. Their exact diagnosis is not clear, because in the cruel and lazy medical parlance of the era, they were simply described as "imbeciles." “Their professionally diagnosed idiocy and imbecility would make people question the integrity of the bloodline…can you imagine the headlines if it were to get out? Nerissa and Katherine Bowes-Lyon Kurz danach bestätigte das Royal Earlswood Hospital die Berichte. You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked. Whether you’re dreaming of buying a home or sprucing up a sharehouse, here’s the latest deals and biggest trends in affordable homewares. But as becomes clear during the episode, Nerissa and Katherine have almost no visitors and have essentially been abandoned by the royals. Nerissa Jane Irene Bowes-Lyon (geboren am 18. Brits were uniquely outraged by the details of Nerissa’s death in 1986, after which she was buried in a pauper’s grave at a funeral attended by only Earlswood staff members. “It is not normal to doubt the word of members of the royal family.”. All rights reserved. [5], Claude Bowes-Lyon, 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne, Cecilia Bowes-Lyon, Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne, Charles Hepburn-Stuart-Forbes-Trefusis, 21st Baron Clinton, Thomas Lyon-Bowes, Master of Glamis (born 1821), Descendancy for BOWES-LYON Claude George, 14th Earl of Strathmore & Kinghorn, "Neglected, hidden away, registered dead: the tragic true story of the Queen's disabled cousins", "Who were the Queen's 'hidden cousins', Nerissa and Katherine Bowes-Lyon? The Sad Story of Queen's Hidden Cousins, Nerissa and Katherine Bowes-Lyon [4] Diese Angaben fanden sich auch in den folgenden Ausgaben des Lexikons. We have the realest, most honest sex and dating talk, trends, and takes to keep your head (and bits) in the game. Can you imagine the headlines if it were to get out?”, In real life, according to The Daily Express (per SurreyLive), the Queen Mother only learned that Nerissa and Katherine were at Royal Earlswood in 1982, when she received a letter from the “hospital’s league of friends.” The Express also reported that the Queen Mother sent “a four-figure sum of money so birthday and Christmas presents could be given annually to the cousins.”. "[18], The sisters were depicted in the seventh episode of the fourth season of the Netflix drama series The Crown, "The Hereditary Principle", which premiered in 2020. The Heartbreaking True Story of the Queen's Cousins, Nerissa and Katherine Bowes-Lyon, All About The Crown: News, Spoilers, and Episode Recaps, Your Privacy Choices: Opt Out of Sale/Targeted Ads. In real life the headlines did get out—in 1987, when The Sun broke the news that two of Queen Elizabeth's first cousins, Katherine and Nerissa Bowes-Lyon, were secretly placed in the Royal . This is fiction, but the stigma surrounding their disabilities isn’t. Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); I can’t stop thinking about the sisters. The story was loaded with devastating details—like how the women’s family had reported the sisters dead in 1963 to Burke’s Peerage, a publisher of books on British aristocracy, even though Nerissa lived until 1986 and Katherine was, at the time of the bombshell news, still alive. Nerissa Jane Irene Bowes-Lyon (18 February 1919 – 22 January 1986) and Katherine Juliet Bowes-Lyon (4 July 1926 – 23 February 2014)[1] were two of the daughters of John Herbert Bowes-Lyon and his wife Fenella (née Hepburn-Stuart-Forbes-Trefusis). Episode 7 of The Crown Season 4, titled "The Hereditary Principle," is a heartbreaking and startling hour that focuses on Princess Margaret (Helena Bonham Carter) as she unravels a dark family secret. Her grave was signified by just plastic tags and a serial number, until a tombstone was added after public outrage. She described her grandmother as “a very vague person [who] often did not fill out forms completely that Burke’s Peerage sent her.” However, an editor for DeBrett’s, a peerage guide much like Burke’s Peerage, commented, “an oversight like that doesn’t happen.”. After discovering that her nieces were alive, the queen mother sent them a check, “which was used to buy candy and toys.” She did not, however, visit her relatives or correct the public record. Can you imagine the headlines if it were to get out?’ She goes on: ‘The hereditary principle already hangs by such a precarious thread… Throw in mental illness, and it’s over.’. The sisters were the first cousins of Nerissa and Katherine, three of the seven children of their aunt, Harriet (1887–1958) – sister of their mother Fenella – and her husband, Major Henry Nevile Fane. Dann wurden die Cousinen der Queen jedoch in die psychiatrische Einrichtung „Royal Earlswood Hospital" abgeschoben. In 1987, a genetic expert determined that all five Bowes-Lyons women suffered from a genetic disorder, which did not affect the Queen or her heirs. Elizabeth | Biography & Facts | Britannica In The Crown, Princess Margaret learns through a therapist that two maternal cousins, Nerissa and Katherine Bowes-Lyon, who had been recorded as deceased, were in fact alive - confined to a mental hospital. Der Buckingham Palace bestätigte lediglich, dass die Queen die Berichte zur Kenntnis genommen habe, der Sachverhalt sei aber „eine Angelegenheit der Familie Bowes-Lyon“. When news of Katherine and Nerissa Bowes-Lyon broke in 1987, the royal family was engulfed in scandal, with the public outraged that the royals could treat their own flesh and blood with such callousness. At the time of her birth in the summer of 1900, her parents, Claude Bowes-Lyon and Cecilia Cavendish-Bentinck, also known as Lord and Lady Glamis, already had seven children, and that wasn't counting a daughter who passed away before Elizabeth was born, or David, the younger . Since the sisters remained hidden at the time, Nerissa's funeral was attended only by hospital staff, according to The Telegraph. King George III, Prince John, your uncle. Her therapists asks her if anybody else in the family has experienced mental health issues before. According to one of the people who cared for the Bowes-Lyon siblings back then, the scene is rooted in truth: In The Queen's Hidden Cousins, a 2011 documentary from Britain's Channel 4, their former nurse Onelle Braithwaite remembers seeing a jubilant Nerissa and Katherine waving and saluting in front of the television as the Queen arrived at Princess Diana and Prince Charles's 1981 wedding. Nerissa and Katherine are two of the daughters of John Bowes-Lyon, who is brother to the Queen Mother, Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon. Fenella’s granddaughter, Lady Elizabeth Anson, took a similar view, telling the Guardian in 1987: ‘She often did not fill out forms completely that Burke's Peerage sent her,’ explain that she left some parts of the form blank – which may have led registrars at Burke’s to assume that meant the women were dead. She was a descendant of the Scottish King, Robert the Bruce. The gene pool of that family better have 100% purity. Amid the articles examining her legacy and complicated history, there's one story in particular that has resurfaced again. There have been enough examples on the Windsor side alone to worry people. [6] Neben den medialen Berichten entfalteten sich Spekulationen, ob die Schwestern Opfer einer durch ihre Familie initiierten Vertuschung geworden sein könnten. “If this is what the Bowes-Lyon family told us, then we would have included it in the book,” Brooks-Baker said. There is reportedly no record of either woman receiving a family visit. Upon the scandalous discovery of their long lives at the Royal Earlswood, the sisters' niece, Lady Elizabeth Anson, claimed that their mother Fenella didn't intentionally report her daughters as dead (when they were in fact hospitalized). It opens with Princess Margaret (Helena Bonham Carter) preparing for a date with a friend. While we don’t know for sure if this is how Margaret found out about the sisters, this is The Crown‘s version of events. [6] Die damals regierende Königin Elisabeth II. Bowes-Lyon descendent Lady Elizabeth Anson was left to explain her grandmother’s actions—alleging that Nerissa and Katherine’s mother, Fenella, “was a very vague person [who] often did not fill out forms completely that Burke’s Peerage sent her.” (An editor for Debrett’s, however, said “an oversight like that doesn’t happen.”). John Herbert "Jock" Bowes-Lyon (1 April 1886 - 7 February 1930) was the second son of the 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne and the Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne, and the brother of Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (the future Queen Elizabeth and later the Queen Mother). In a touching moment that is now repeated by all royal . Sie habe danach veranlasst, dass die Schwestern jährlich Geburtstags- und Weihnachtsgeschenke bekommen würden. Keep up with the latest in music news with Pedestrian. The program meant a new generation of people . This has been challenged, however, given that Burke’s listed specific dates of death for both sisters. The story explained how the cousins had been secretly placed in the Royal Earlswood psychiatric hospital in 1941, and also revealed that the family had reported them dead in 1963. The reality of the matter was that Nerissa died in 1986, merely a year before the scandal broke, while Katherine lived until 2014. Samantha Vincenty is the former senior staff writer at Oprah Daily. und Prinzessin Margaret waren, mit denen sie sich ein Großelternpaar, Claude Bowes-Lyon, 14. Performance & security by Cloudflare. Katherine and Nerissa Bowes-Lyon were locked up and sent to a mental asylum AFL NEWS, NRL NEWS, CRICKET NEWS, SOCCER NEWS, TENNIS NEWS, BASKETBALL NEWS, RUGBY UNION NEWS, SURFING NEWS, HORSE NEWS. [1], Last edited on 25 February 2023, at 15:34, John Bowes, 9th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne, Mary Bowes, Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne, Claude Bowes-Lyon, 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne, Michael Bowes-Lyon, 18th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne, Earl and Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne, Scots peerage: founded on Wood's ed. Feb. 23 (UPI) -- A British court on Tuesday sentenced Queen Elizabeth II's cousin to prison for sexually assaulting a woman at his family castle in Scotland last year. Will 'Manifest' Ever Have a Fifth Season? Join Vanity Fair to receive full access to VF.com and the complete online archive now. Read on for a primer on the fact vs. fiction of this devastating true story. [10] Das amerikanische Magazin TIME berichtete, Elizabeth, Queen Mum, habe schon 1982 durch einen Brief der Leiterin der Schwesternhilfe des Krankenhaus erfahren, dass die Schwestern noch leben würden. But the queen mother rationalizes the family’s decision, blaming it on the 1936 abdication that thrust her husband onto the throne and suddenly made the purity of her family’s bloodline a subject of international interest. Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon was the daughter of the Scottish Lord Glamis, who became the 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne, Elizabeth was educated at home. Earl of Lichfield, finanziert wurde. Who were the Queen's 'hidden' cousins Nerissa and Katherine Bowes-Lyon? https://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nerissa_und_Katherine_Bowes-Lyon&oldid=228442084, „Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike“. Simon Bowes-Lyon, cousin to Queen Elizabeth II, jailed for sexual ... - UPI Each season The Crown digs into a chapter of British royal history that the monarchy would presumably prefer be forgotten. soll davon ausgegangen sein, dass Nerissa und Katherine Bowes-Lyon gestorben seien. In season four, series creator Peter Morgan excavates an especially ugly scandal in “The Hereditary Principle,” when Princess Margaret (Helena Bonham Carter) discovers that five of her and Queen Elizabeth’s (Olivia Colman) cousins were secretly placed in a mental hospital in 1941 and publicly declared dead. The most famous member of it, might be Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mum. This switched-at-birth fantasy hinges on little more than the fact that Queen Elizabeth and Katherine were born 10 weeks apart in 1926. [2] Vertreter der Familie der beiden Schwestern dementierten das. The discovery that two royal cousins lived that way in secret was a scandal for Buckingham Palace; a spokesman said at the time that the Queen knew about Nerissa and Katherine's situation, but it was "a matter for the immediate (Bowes-Lyon) family.". 22 Jahren in einer Nervenheilanstalt namens Royal Earlswood Hospital in Redhill, Surrey, untergebracht worden. [1], Die medialen Enthüllungen von 1987 fanden statt, nachdem Journalisten das weitgehend anonyme Grab von Nerissa Bowes-Lyon entdeckt hatten. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. Birthdate: 1988. Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne, Cecilia Bowes-Lyon Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne, Charles Hepburn-Stuart-Forbes-Trefusis, 21. According to The Guardian, Nerissa and Katherine – then aged 15 and 22 – were secretly placed in the institution and practically abandoned. You could Google them right now and learn about their story, they’re not a secret – not anymore. There appears, however, to be no factual basis behind this. Thus the two women were first cousins of Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Margaret, sharing a pair of grandparents – the 14th Earl and Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne, the Queen Mother’s parents. It was criticized for sanitation problems and overcrowding, with nurses and relatives of patients recalling an understaffed ward of forty patients cared for by just two nurses. The palace confirmed that the royal and her husband Jack Brooksbank had their second child last Tuesday. If 'Ted Lasso' Is Over, We Have Spinoff Ideas, Shows Like 'Ted Lasso,' When You're Ready to Cheer, Dragons Will Fly in 'House of the Dragon' S2, In 'Ted Lasso,' Nick Mohammed Has Come Full Circle, The 'Ted Lasso' Finale Is Miraculously Perfect, An Insane 'Succession' Baseball Theory Came True. Eine der Pflegenden, die sich in den 1970er Jahren um die Schwestern gekümmert hatte, berichtete, dass diese Erinnerungen an ihre Herkunftsfamilien hatten: „Wenn die Königin oder Queen Mum im Fernsehen zu sehen war, knicksten sie – sehr königlich, sehr tief. “It was so sad. Juli 1926; gestorben am 23. It’s thought that the Queen Mother was in fact unaware of Nerissa and Katherine’s situation until 1982, when – upon learning where they were – she is said to have sent the sisters a check to pay for sweets. [1][6][8], The three grandchildren of Fenella and John (Lady Elizabeth Shakerley, the 5th Earl of Lichfield, and Katherine Somervell) organised the headstone for Nerissa Bowes-Lyon. The revelation that three more of the Queen's cousins had also been placed in the Royal Earlswood made headlines in 1987 as well. In 1987, when The Sun broke the news that the supposedly dead sisters had been very much alive—and secretly institutionalized—all along, Harold Brooks-Baker, an editor at Burke’s Peerage, was stunned to learn of the inaccuracy. But The Crown did have to take some poetic licence and fill in the gaps. Nerissa Bowes-Lyons. Kate continues her love affair with the British luxury fashion house. Jone Johnson Lewis. The Los Angeles Times reported that the daughters of Harriet Fane, Katherine and Nerissa's mother Fenella's sister, had committed her three daughters Edonia Elizabeth, Rosemary Jean, and Etheldreda Flavia Fane on the very same day (suggesting the two sisters made a joint decision about what to do with their children). Following the programme's broadcast, The Guardian's reviewer John Crace wrote that "All we learned was just common knowledge."