Cecilia_Cavendish-Bentinck

Cecilia Bowes-Lyon, Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne

Cecilia Bowes-Lyon, Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne

Mother of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother

Cecilia Nina Bowes-Lyon, Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne GCVO (née Cavendish-Bentinck; 11 September 1862 – 23 June 1938) was the mother of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, and maternal grandmother and godmother of Queen Elizabeth II.

Quick Facts The Right HonourableThe Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne GCVO, Born ...

Life

Cecilia Nina Cavendish-Bentinck was born in Belgravia, Westminster,[1] 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).

Portrait by Philip de László, 1931

On 16 July 1881, she married Claude Bowes-Lyon, Lord Glamis, at St Peter's Church, Petersham, Surrey.[2][3] 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.[4] Her houses were run with meticulous care and a practical approach,[5] and she was responsible for designing the Italian Garden at Glamis.[6] She was deeply religious, a keen gardener and embroiderer, and preferred a quiet family life.[7]

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.[8] In October 1921 she underwent a hysterectomy,[9] 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.[7] When asked by pressmen for a photograph during the Edward VIII abdication crisis, she reportedly said, "I shouldn't waste a photograph on me."[7] At the coronation of their son-in-law and daughter, the Earl and the Countess were seated in the royal box, along with the immediate royal family.

Death

Lady Strathmore suffered a heart attack in April 1938 during the wedding of her granddaughter, Anne Bowes-Lyon (later Princess of Denmark), to Viscount Anson.[10] She died 8 weeks later at 38 Cumberland Mansions, near Bryanston Square in London, at the age of 75. Lady Strathmore outlived four of her ten children. She was buried on 27 June 1938 at Glamis Castle.

Issue

More information Name, Birth ...

Ancestry

More information Ancestors of Cecilia Bowes-Lyon, Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne ...

References

  1. [1]
    Davies, p. 74
  2. [2]
    Civil Registration Indexes: Marriages General Register Office, England and Wales Jul–Sep 1881 Richmond, Surrey vol. 2a, p. 549; White, G. H. (1953) The Complete Peerage: Volume XII Part I, p. 402. (St. Catherine Press, London)
  3. [3]
    "When Lord Strathmore Married". Dundee Courier. 11 June 1931. p. 6. Retrieved 13 July 2021 – via British Library Newspapers.
  4. [4]
    Forbes, p. 29
  5. [5]
    Forbes, pp. 9, 28
  6. [6]
    Forbes, p. 28
  7. [7]
    The Times (London) Thursday, 23 June 1938; p. 16; col. D
  8. [8]
    Vickers, p. 46
  9. [9]
    Vickers, p. 48
  10. [10]
    Vickers, p. 176
  11. [11]
    "(14th) Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne 1855-1944". Thompson Family Genealogy. Retrieved 17 May 2018.
  12. [12]
    Vickers, p. 7.
  13. [13]
    Forbes, p. 3.
  14. [14]
    Vickers, p. 13.
  15. [15]
    Vickers, p. 320.
  16. [16]
    "The Queen Mother in pictures". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 17 May 2018.
  17. [17]
    Obituaries, Telegraph (21 January 2021). "Lady Mary Colman, cousin of the Queen and dedicated supporter of Norfolk good causes – obituary". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 23 August 2023.

Sources

  • Davies, Edward J., "Some Connections of the Birds of Warwickshire", The Genealogist, 26(2012):58–76
  • Forbes, Grania, My Darling Buffy: The Early Life of The Queen Mother (Headline Book Publishing, 1999); ISBN 978-0-7472-7387-5
  • Vickers, Hugo, Elizabeth: The Queen Mother (Arrow Books/Random House, 2006); ISBN 978-0-09-947662-7
Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Cecilia_Cavendish-Bentinck, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.