Queen 'very upset' over Channel 4's 'utter lies' documentary on Royal Family

The British Queen is reportedly very upset over a Channel 4 documentary that portrays the Royal Family as hard-hearted to the point of cruelty.

According to Palace confidantes, she is "hugely distressed" over the "utter lies" that two of her cousins, branded "imbeciles" by doctors, were locked away and ignored by the family for more than 50 years.

The documentary tilted 'Queen's Hidden Cousins' tells the story of Katherine and Nerissa Bowes-Lyon, the daughters of the late Queen Mother's older brother John Bowes-Lyon.

It claims both sisters, who suffer from severe learning disabilities, spent seven years at the Royal Earlswood Hospital - known then as the Asylum For Idiots - between the ages of 15 and 22.

The programme, to be broadcast on Thursday, alleged that the Royal Family largely shunned them.

It is said that they have not even received birthday cards, and one former nurse revealed: "They (the sisters) never received anything at Christmas either, not a sausage."

Moreover, it is alleged that when Nerissa died in 1986, no family attended her funeral and she was initially buried in a pauper's grave.

Katherine, now 85, is cared for in a Surrey care home run by the Oaklands NHS Trust.

But a source close to Buckinham Palace last night branded the claims as "utter lies".

"The Queen is very, very upset at the thought that this programme is being made which is just not true," the Daily express quoted the close confidante as saying.

"Both Katherine and Nerissa were visited very regularly by their family but neither could speak, and throughout their lives had the thinking age of four years old.

"They were unable to recognise visitors, often becoming hugely distressed as they struggled to work out who was with them. They also both regularly received presents, especially at Christmas, a fact disputed in this supposedly factual documentary. Neither sister knew who the presents were from but they enjoyed the moment of receiving a lovely gift.

"If Channel 4 had bothered to get the facts right and ask people who knew the true story, this would be a different matter. They just didn't ask anybody and came up with this upsetting nonsense which brings nothing but hurt," the source added. (ANI)