I have found today the derelict grave of Queen Elizabeth's blood first cousin - Katharine Bowes-Lyon. Katherine and her sister Nerissa were placed in Earlswood Hospital for the mentally disabled for their entire lives from 1941 until their deaths. Both are now buried at Redstone Cemetery, Redhill, Reigate and Banstead Borough, Surrey, England. Pictured here is the grave of Katharine who lived for 87 long years, only passing away recently in 2014. Her grave is overgrown, marked only by an ageing wooden cross with a tarnishing plaque.

Katharine and Nerissa's father John was the brother of the Queen Mother, making the sisters Queen Elizabeth II's first cousins. These two sisters were incarcerated in 1941 as Nazi bombs fell on London. This institution was the Royal Earlswood Asylum for Mental Defectives, at Redhill in Surrey; a grim Victorian mansion for the mentally disabled, where they remained for the rest of their long lives.

It is not known whether their cousin - Queen Elizabeth II, ever visited them, but records state, "throughout their time at the hospital, there is no known record that the sisters were ever visited by any member of the Bowes-Lyon or royal families, despite their aunt, the Queen Mother, being a Patron of MENCAP" (the charity for people with learning disabilities).

The sisters certainly weren't acknowledged, and in fact, they were both declared as being dead in Burke's Peerage from 1961 onwards. Nerissa died first in 1986, and only then was it revealed who the two were, and that the other sister was still living, and then in 1987 Burke's Peerage was updated to reflect this. These two sisters and first cousins of the reigning Queen had been alive, denounced, and secretly institutionalised for being mentally disabled, all those long years since 1941.

Both sisters are buried near each other in Redstone Cemetery, Surrey, England. From what I understand, Nerissa's grave may now have a tombstone, but Katharine's remains as pictured here with an ageing wooden cross, even though their cousin is the Queen and their family was one of the richest in the world at the time. Such is the shame held for mental disabilities by the royal family and others of this time and class.

While it is heart-warming to hear the new generation of Harry, William and Kate now actively speak of, and campaign for, mental health; I think these sisters and their lives and mistreatment needs to be addressed. At the very least, someone in the British royal family needs to make restitution in part to their memories and neglect by at least paying for a fitting memorial stone for their graves.