In the early 20th Century, children with mental, physical and learning disabilities were shunned from society and considered a great shame upon their families. Imagine being born in the minor Scottish noble family of Bowes-Lyon, which rose to prominence when Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon married Prince Albert, the Duke of York and the second son of King George V and Queen Mary of Teck. Nerissa and Katherine Bowes-Lyon were the Duchess of York’s nieces via her brother, John Herbert Bowes-Lyon, who had five daughters. John died aged 43, a few months shy of his 44th birthday.
Nerissa and Katherine were not royals by blood, but they were related via their aunt, who would become Queen upon her husband Prince Albert’s accession in 1936 to the British Throne as King George VI. Their cousin, Elizabeth, would become Queen in her own right upon her father’s death in 1952.
Nerissa And Katherine Were Believed To Be Dead
Nerissa (born 1919) and Katherine (born 1926) were severely disabled mentally and never taught to speak. Within a few months of each of their births, it became apparent that they were According to the Daily Mail, the girls were said to be dead in Burke’s Peerage in 1963 despite being very much alive. The girls’s story was only made public in 1987 after Nerissa died in 1986. Katherine outlived her sister by over 20 years, passing away in 2014.
The fake death dates published in Burke’s Peerage listed Katherine as having died in 1961. Nerissa was said to have passed in 1942.
One story mentioned in the Daily Mail on the royal relatives who were “shunned” was that Nerissa and Katherine were more intelligent than people ever gave them credit for. Whenever they saw The Queen or the Queen Mother on television, they would do perfect curtsies as if by memory.
The Fictional Story In The Crown
The Crown referenced Nerissa and Katherine as dead in the episode The Heredity Principle by Princess Margaret’s therapist. When Margaret confronts her mother about it, The Queen Mother says they had to lock the girls away to “preserve” the bloodline.
This storyline is almost entirely fictional.
In reality, Princess Margaret had no role in discovering her cousins and never confronted her mother. The Bowes-Lyons family has stated outright that there was NO coverup whatsoever. Father Derek Jennings did not have any involvement with the Bowes-Lyons sisters. Also, the girls were sent to the Royal Earlswood Hospital (originally named Royal Earlswood Asylum for Mental Defectives) by their mother, Fenella, in 1941. Their father, John Herbert Bowes-Lyon, died six years before Edward VIII’s abdication, hence before he became king.
The Queen Mother had no idea her nieces were alive until 1982 and immediately sent money for gifts. Moreover, the Bowes-Lyon family were incredibly frustrated with the story and how it was told in The Crown.
