Why it was scandalous: Powerful families used to think that it was OK to simply hide members who were mentally or physically disabled. The royal family was no exception to this, with several extended and immediate members sent away to institutions or kept locked inside closed walls.
One famous example of this is the queen’s uncle, Prince John, who was sent away to Sandringham House after he was diagnosed with epilepsy at age 4. He was kept out of the public eye until he died at age 13.
Similarly, three of the Queen Mother’s cousins, Rosemary, Etheldreda, and Ideona Bowes-Lyon and two of Queen Elizabeth’s cousins, Nerissa and Katherine Bowes-Lyon, were sent to institutions for mental disabilities.
They were kept completely from the public eye and presumed dead until a reporter found Nerissa’s grave in 1987. The grave was marked by a plastic tag, which outraged the public.
