Princess Eugenie looks exactly like the Queen Mother and it's nigh on impossible to unsee the resemblance once the penny drops. The Princess may look just like her great-grandmother but the pair couldn't be less alike - especially in light of the controversial character the Queen Mother was and the terrible secret her family kept.
- Princess Eugenie looks just like the Queen Mother in her younger years, but the hardworking young royal isn't as controversial a character.
- The Queen Mother's divisive personality, lack of tact, and horrendous family history left a less-than-positive legacy.
- In other royal news, Did Prince Charles actually breakdance?
Although Princess Eugenie looks like her great-grandmother the Queen Mother, more than any of the Queen's grandchildren do, the Princess has - comparatively - a far more regular life. By regular, we mean she works and doesn't live under the same rigid code of conduct that the late Queen Mother did. In fact, Princess Eugenie broke royal protocol more than one occasion - which probably wouldn't have gone down well with the late royal.
Being a member of the Royal Family and having a professional life may have been seen as uncouth by the late royal, but there are many skeletons in her own closet that are seen as far worse in modern times. From her controversial sartorial choices during the war, to her rigid inability to forgive, and for many the worst of all - the Bowes-Lyon family's secret.
Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother was born Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon. She was the youngest daughter, the ninth of ten children, of Claude Bowes-Lyon, Lord Glamis (who became 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne) and Cecilia Cavendish-Bentinck. Born into the British nobility, she grew up in England and the Scottish family seat, Glamis Castle. Glamis Castle has been the ancestral seat to the Earls of Strathmore and Kinghorne since 1372 and is reputedly one of the most haunted castles in the UK and since the mid-19th century tales of the 'Monster of Glamis' have plagued the family.
“If you could even guess the nature of this castle’s secret, you would get down on your knees and thank God it was not yours.” These words, credited by the Smithsonian Magazine to Claude Bowes-Lyon, 13th Earl of Strathmore, refer to the alleged existence of a secret room in the castle. The room in question is said to have housed the 'monster' who was the rightful heir to the family title - but who was said to have been born with disfigurements the family wanted to keep secret.
This legend has never been substantiated but another Bowes-Lyon family secret, which was exposed in 1987, proved they had treated some of their issue with complete disregard.
The Queen’s cousins, Nerissa and Katherine Bowes-Lyon, were confined, in the Royal Earlswood Hospital for, "mentally disabled people," in 1941, according to Tatler. This is despite being listed as 'deceased' in Burke’s Peerage.
After the shocking revelation of the cousins' existence, Tatler reports that a general manager for the East Surrey Health Authority told the Associated Press, "Both sisters had regular visits from their families up until the early 1960s when one of their closest relatives died… Since then, they have had few visitors. My understanding is that Katherine had no regular visitors."
Nerissa died aged 66 in 1986 and Katherine died aged 87 in 2014. The Independent reports that at the time, Buckingham Palace said the Queen was aware of the report but added, “We have no comment about it at all. It is a matter for the Bowes-Lyon family.”
