Several strange coincidences have been discovered regarding the ancestors of Prince William and his wife Kate Middleton.
Kate’s great-great aunt, Gertrude Middleton, and William’s great-grandmother, Princess Alice of Battenberg appeared to have several similarities that an Australian historian recently discovered.
As it turns out, not only were both women nuns, but they also became volunteer nurses during the First World War.
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However, there is an eerier side to the story as both women were both treated at a sanatorium – a facility that treats patients with mental health issues.
Kate’s great-great aunt, was treated at the Lawn Hospital for Mental and Nervous Diseases in Lincoln in the 1930s before dying at the facility in March 1942, aged 66-years-old.
Michael Reed, a historian at Ilim College in Australia – who made the discovery about Kate’s ancestor – told The Daily Telegraph: “They basically lived parallel lives, a few years apart”.
“Both were volunteer nurses in connection with the Red Cross – Gertrude during the First World War, and Princess Alice during the first and second, “he said.
“They both acted as dedicated social workers for the homeless and disadvantaged and proved to be generous financial benefactors.
(Image: Getty Images)
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“But most startling of all was the revelation that Gertrude, like Princess Alice, had been a patient in a mental hospital. Their stories are both fascinating and sad.”
Before their deaths, both ancestors’ lives went into a religious direction as Gertrude became a nun at the Anglican Convent of the Epiphany in Cornwall, while Princess Alice founded a Greek Orthodox order of nuns.
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