Two women connected to the British royal family were officially recorded as dead — while they were still alive.
Their names were Nerissa and Katherine Bowes-Lyon.
They were first cousins of Queen Elizabeth II, related through the Queen Mother’s family. Both were born with significant intellectual disabilities, at a time when disability was treated with fear, stigma, and silence.
In 1941, they were placed in long-term care at Royal Earlswood Hospital in Surrey. This was common practice in mid-20th-century Britain, especially among aristocratic families who believed institutionalization was the “proper” solution.
What came to light decades later was something else entirely.
Respected genealogical records — including Burke’s Peerage — listed both women as having died years earlier.
They had not.
Nerissa lived until 1986.
Katherine lived until 2014.
There is no evidence of a royal decree, no secret order, no deliberate erasure by the Palace. But the silence surrounding their lives — and the unquestioned acceptance of false records — revealed something deeper than conspiracy.
It revealed a time when disability was hidden, even in the most powerful families.
This is not a story of villainy.
It is a story of a society that valued appearances over people — and how that choice allowed two women to quietly disappear from history while still breathing.
Remembering them now doesn’t change the past.
But it does change what we choose not to look away from.