Cecilia Bowes-Lyon

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."

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