Losing a parent is difficult enough without sibling dissension that goes on and on and on ... Unsuspecting Charlotte Gunne found out the hard way Irving Berlin was on to something when he penned the lyrics for his famous 1954 song, Sisters.
Rosemary Clooney immortalised the song in the film White Christmas, and the lyrics 'there were never such devoted sisters' spoke to little girls all over the world who loved their sister but knew, even as a child, that the relationship could be 'complicated' to say the least. At least that's how it was for me. My sister and I were allies at the start, but as so often happens, life and human frailty intervened and we went from devoted sisters to adversaries who today, never speak. Mr Berlin appears to have skipped over that part, or perhaps it was just easier to turn a blind eye to the complicated relationships that so often exist between siblings. Of course, we were close as young children, which is no surprise given that there were just two of us, born barely 18 months apart