Quick Facts
VirgoBiography
Cecilia Nina Bowes-Lyon, Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne GCVO DStJ (née Cavendish-Bentinck; 11 September 1862 – 23 June 1938) was the mother of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and maternal grandmother and godmother of Elizabeth II.
Life
She was born in Belgravia, Westminster, the eldest daughter of the Rev. Charles Cavendish-Bentinck (grandson of British Prime Minister William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland) and his wife, Louisa (née Burnaby).
On 16 July 1881, she married Claude Bowes-Lyon, Lord Glamis, at Petersham, Surrey, and they had ten children. Claude inherited his father's title of Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne in 1904, whereupon Cecilia became Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne.
The Strathmore estates included two grand houses and their surroundings: Glamis Castle and St Paul's Walden Bury. Cecilia was a gregarious and accomplished hostess who played the piano exceptionally well. Her houses were run with meticulous care and a practical approach, and she was responsible for designing the Italian Garden at Glamis. She was deeply religious, a keen gardener and embroiderer, and preferred a quiet family life.
During World War I, Glamis Castle served as a convalescent hospital for the wounded, in which she took an active part until she developed cancer and was forced into invalidity. In October 1921 she underwent a hysterectomy, and by May 1922 was in recovery. In January 1923 she celebrated the engagement of her youngest daughter, Elizabeth, to the King's son, Prince Albert, Duke of York, later George VI. When asked by pressmen for a photograph during the Edward VIII abdication crisis, she reportedly said, "I shouldn't waste a photograph on me."
Issue
| Name | Born | Died | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Hon. Violet Hyacinth Bowes-Lyon | 17 April 1882 St Paul's Walden Bury | 17 October 1893 Ham, Surrey | Died at age 11 from diphtheria. She died before her father became Earl and was therefore never styled "Lady". |
| Lady Mary Frances Bowes-Lyon | 30 August 1883 Forfar, Angus | 8 February 1961 Inveresk | Married Sidney Buller-Fullerton-Elphinstone, 16th Lord Elphinstone on 24 July 1910 in Westminster and had issue. |
| Patrick Bowes-Lyon, 15th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne | 22 September 1884 St Paul's Walden Bury | 25 May 1949 Angus | Known as Lord Glamis from 1904 to 1944; Married Lady Dorothy Beatrix Godolphin-Osborne on 21 November 1908 in London and had issue. |
| The Hon. John Herbert Bowes-Lyon | 1 April 1886 St Paul's Walden Bury | 7 February 1930 Glamis Castle | Served as a lieutenant in the Black Watch during World War I; Married The Hon. Fenella Hepburn-Stuart-Forbes-Trefusis on 29 September 1914 and had issue. |
| The Hon. Alexander Francis Bowes-Lyon | 14 April 1887 St Paul's Walden Bury | 19 October 1911 Glamis Castle | Died unmarried in his sleep of a tumour at the base of the cerebrum |
| The Hon. Fergus Bowes-Lyon | 18 April 1889 Glamis Castle | 26 September 1915 Loos-en-Gohelle | Served as a captain in the Black Watch during World War I; Married Lady Christian Norah Dawson-Damer on 17 September 1914 and had issue; Killed in the Battle of Loos. |
| Lady Rose Constance Bowes-Lyon | 6 May 1890 Ham, Surrey | 17 November 1967 | Married William Leveson-Gower, 4th Earl Granville on 24 May 1916 at St James's Church, Piccadilly, and had issue. |
| The Hon. Michael Claude Hamilton Bowes-Lyon | 1 October 1893 St Paul's Walden Bury | 1 May 1953 | Served as a lieutenant-colonel during World War I; Married Elizabeth Margaret Cator on 2 February 1928 and had issue, including the 17th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne. |
| Lady Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon | 4 August 1900 London or Hitchin | 30 March 2002 Royal Lodge, Old Windsor | Married Prince Albert, Duke of York, the future King George VI, on 26 April 1923 at Westminster Abbey and had issue, including Queen Elizabeth II. |
| The Hon. Sir David Bowes-Lyon, KCVO | 2 May 1902 London | 13 September 1961 Birkhall | Married Rachel Pauline Spender Clay on 6 February 1929 and had issue. |
Death
She suffered a heart attack in April 1938 during the wedding of her granddaughter, Anne Bowes-Lyon, to Thomas, Viscount Anson. She died 8 weeks later, aged 75, at 38 Cumberland Mansions, Bryanston Street, in London. Lady Strathmore outlived four of her ten children. She was buried on 27 June 1938 at Glamis Castle.
Titles from birth to death
- 11 September 1862 – 16 July 1881: Miss Cecilia Cavendish-Bentinck
- 16 July 1881 – 16 February 1904: Lady Glamis
- 16 February 1904 – 23 June 1938: The Right Honourable The Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne
Ancestry
| Ancestors of Cecilia Bowes-Lyon, Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||