When 'The Crown' Revealed Secrets About Queen Elizabeth's Cousins Living in Psychiatric Facility

Netflix's show The Crown revealed some of the royal family's best-kept secrets including how the late Queen Elizabeth II's two 'hidden' cousins were living in a psychiatric hospital and, on one occasion, they were even mistakenly considered dead. The show piqued people's interest because of constant curiosity to know more about the life of the royals; the drama, about Elizabeth's reign, premiered in 2016, and in each season, it unearthed the long-forgotten history of the royal family members. More specifically, in season 4, it was revealed that two of Her Majesty's first cousins, Nerissa and Katherine Bowes-Lyon, had a heartwrenching life where they were secretly placed in a mental hospital, per Vanity Fair.

Apparently, both Nerissa, born in 1919, and Katherine, born in 1926, had learning difficulties from nascency and were admitted to the Royal Earlswood Psychiatric Hospital in 1941, and in 1963, they were accidentally listed as dead. Through the World War II, they were in the care of medical professionals and continued to be there for the remainder of their lives. 

In the episode 7 of season 4, Princess Margaret, who herself struggled with her own mental health issues, was in a rage over the family's apparent cruelty. "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," says Margaret in the episode. "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? What people would say?" continued Princess Margaret. 

In reality, the news of the royal cousins was first came out in 1987, when an outlet revealed their mother Fenella Bowes-Lyon decided to put her daughter Nerissa, who was 15 years old back then. and Katherine, 22, in Royal Earlswood; their father John died in 1930. Back in the day, society had a lot of stigma around mental illnesses/disablities and it was considered a tabbo to discuss it in public, as per Oprah Daily. While nurses claimed the cousins were not visited by family after the 60s, sources with the palace refuted these allegations: "Both Katherine and Nerissa were visited regularly by their family but neither could speak, and throughout their lives had the thinking age of four years old... They were unable to recognize visitors, often becoming hugely distressed as they struggled to work out who was with them." 

As of 1963, Nerissa and Katherine were considered deceased in 1961 by a guide on the royal family's genealogy, Burke's Peerage, when they were, in fact, hospitalized. However, it wasn't until a 1996 report by Daily Express that the hospital trustees wrote to the Queen Mother in 1982 that the family had learned about the 'hidden' cousins, per PEOPLE.

In a scene from The Crown, Princess Margaret confronts Queen Mother during a tense argument, "Locked up and neglected. They're your nieces — daughters of your favorite brother. It's wicked and it's cold-hearted and it's cruel and it's entirely in keeping with the ruthlessness, which I myself have experienced in this family." In response, Queen Mother, said, "Don't be so naive. We had no choice." 

Except for the few details from royal sources and The Crown, it was known that Nerissa passed away on January 22, 1986, at the age of 66 after spending 40 years in the mental asylum. However, Katherine died 28 years later on February 23, 2014, at the age of 87.