In an uncanny resemblance to Prince William’s great-grandmother, the great-great aunt of the Duchess of Cambridge died in a mental hospital.
The similarities between the two forebears were not recognized until an Australian historian discovered that the two women had parallel lives. Kate’s ancestor, Gertrude Middleton, and William’s great-grandmother, Princess Alice of Battenberg, served as volunteer nurses during the First World War as nuns.
In the 1930s, the duchess’ great-great aunt, Noel Middleton’s sister, was treated at the Lawn Hospital for Mental and Nervous Diseases in Lincoln.
In March 1942, she passed away at the clinic, which treated “exceptional patients,” at the age of 66.
The late Duke of Edinburgh’s mother, Prince William’s great-grandmother, was also treated at a sanatorium.
Michael Reed, a historian at Australia’s Ilim College who uncovered the finding of Kate’s ancestor, told The Daily Telegraph, “They lived similar lives, just a few years apart.”
Both served as Red Cross volunteer nurses: Gertrude during the First World War and Princess Alice during the First and Second World Wars.
They were both devoted social workers for the homeless and the poor, as well as great donors.
The most shocking revelation, however, was that Gertrude, like Princess Alice, had been a patient in a mental institution. Their tales are both captivating and tragic. Gertrude Middleton was a brilliant student who attended a girls’ boarding school adjacent to the University of St. Andrews, where Kate and William met as undergraduates.
Gertrude, like the Duchess, was athletic and played both lacrosse and tennis, two of Kate’s favorite sports. She also played the piano, which she did excellently at a Christmas concert last year.
Together with her sister-in-law Olive Middleton, the duchess’s great-grandmother, she volunteered with the Red Cross.
Gertrude became a nun in the Anglican Convent of the Epiphany in Cornwall, while Princess Alice established a Greek Orthodox order of nuns as their lives progressed.
In 1930, after being diagnosed with schizophrenia, Princess Alice was admitted to a hospital in Switzerland.
In 1965, she died in Buckingham Palace at the age of 84.