The Queen's Hidden Cousins

In 1987 we found out that the Queen has two cousins who were shut away in a mental asylum (or whatever those places used to be called). The Bowes-Lyonses told Burke's Peerage that they were dead- a decision the family later attributed to "vagueness". Last night we found out about it all over again. There was nothing much to add. One of them is still alive. No-one from the Royal Family ever visited her before 1987 and no-one has visited her since.   

I used to be a fervent anti-royalist. Now I'm just an anti-royalist. Once I might have fulminated, now I shrug. Trying to topple the monarchy is like shying at a coconut that has been nailed in place. People will go on loving the Royals no matter what.  

And to be fair, it wasn't just the Royals who had unenlightened views about the mentally disabled. We all did. Only if we expect the Royals to give the nation a moral lead (which is absurd- though it's part of the job description) can we really get all worked up about this particular example of them doing the wrong thing. They behaved as most of us would.

Historical Novels

How long ago does a novel have to be set for it to qualify as an historical novel?

I reckon the events it deals with need to be outside living memory (at the time of writing).

Thus a contemporary novel set in the trenches of WWI would be an historical novel and one set on the beaches of Dunkirk wouldn't.

I'm reading Stevenson's Weir of Hermiston,  He was writing it in the 1890s and it's set around the time of Waterloo. That's a gap of about 80 years- which puts it on the cusp. Is it an historical novel ? I can't decide.