They are faces we see time and time again, representing the great monarchy thatQueen Elizabeth IIoversaw for decades.
That isn’t the case.
The couple had five daughters, welcoming Nerissa in 1919 and Katherine in 1926.
Tragically, their firstborn died as an infant.
However, things may have changed when Elizabeth became heir.
Instead of being supported and accepted as they would be today, they were seen as scandalous.
Thankfully, times have changed since then.
(The queen mother is pictured here with the girls' father, John Bowes-Lyon.)
After that, nothing was ever the same.
This marked the beginning of a lifetime of institutionalization for them, as they would never come home again.
What was life like at the institution?
Unfortunately, the hospital struggled with the pressure.
The documentary also claimed that the sisters didn’t receive visitors, birthday presents, or cards.
Essentially, they were forgotten (viainews).
When it was published that Nerissa had died in 1940 and Katherine in 1961, nobody questioned it.
As a result, the Bowes-Lyon sisters faded further and further from view.
Only those closest to the two sisters knew the truth that they weren’t dead at all.
So how did the reality eventually come to light?
The truth did prevail, but it didn’t give any definitive answers to this curious twist of events.
The publication also shared a picture of Katherine staring off into the distance.
For a family as notoriously private as the Windsors, this would have likely been incredibly unsettling.
Did Queen Elizabeth II know about them?
Queen Elizabeth II was born in 1926, so she wasn’t dissimilar in age to her cousins.
She, like other members of the aristocracy, believed they had died in 1940 and 1961 as recorded.
If it was a secret even to family members, it begs the question: why?
Their aristocratic upbringing was ingrained in them to the core.
They remained nonverbal their entire lives, but the sisters were still able to communicate.
Exactly who arranged for the funds to be sent remains unknown.
A real gravestone was added a year later.
Both sisters were buried at Redstone Cemetery, near the hospital where they spent their lives.
