Claude George Bowes-Lyon, 14th and 1st Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne, (14 March 1855 – 7 November 1944), styled as Lord Glamis from 1865 to 1904, was a British peer and landowner who was the father of

Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon (4 August 1900 – 30 March 2002) was Queen of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 to 6 February 1952 as the wife of King George VI. She was th ...

, the maternal grandfather of

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...

, and a great-grandfather to

King Charles III Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person to a ...

Life and family

The Earl was born in

Lowndes Square Lowndes Square is a residential garden square at the north-west end of Belgravia, London, SW1. It is formed of archetypal grand terraces of light stucco houses, cream or white. The length of the central rectangular garden is parallel with Sloane ...

, London, the son of Claude Bowes-Lyon, 13th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne, and his wife, the former Frances Smith.White, Geoffrey and Cokayne, G. E., ''The Complete Peerage'', St Catherine's Press, London, 1953; vol. XII, pp. 402–3. His younger brother Patrick Bowes-Lyon was a tennis player who won the 1887 Wimbledon doubles. After being educated at

Eton College Eton College () is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI of England, Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. i ...

, the Earl received a commission in the 2nd

Life Guards Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for growth, reaction to stimuli, metabolism, energy transf ...

in 1876 and served for six years until the year after his marriage.''The Times'' (London), Wednesday, 8 November 1944, p. 7, col. C. He was an active member of the Territorial Army and served as honorary colonel of the 4th/5th Battalion of the

Black Watch The Black Watch, 3rd Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland (3 SCOTS) is an infantry battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland. The regiment was created as part of the Childers Reforms in 1881, when the 42nd (Royal Highland) Regime ...

Claude George Bowes Lyon, 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne

Upon succeeding his father to the Earldom on 16 February 1904, he inherited large estates in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...

and England, including Glamis Castle, St Paul's Walden Bury, Gibside Hall and

Streatlam Castle Streatlam Castle was a Baroque stately home located near the town of Barnard Castle in County Durham, England, that was demolished in 1959. Owned by the Bowes-Lyon family, Earls of Strathmore and Kinghorne, the house was one of the family's thre ...

County Durham County Durham ( ), officially simply Durham,UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. is a ceremonial county in North East England.North East Assembly �About North East E ...

and Woolmers Park, near

Hertford Hertford ( ) is the county town of Hertfordshire, England, and is also a civil parish in the East Hertfordshire district of the county. The parish had a population of 26,783 at the 2011 census. The town grew around a ford on the River Lea, n ...

. He was made Lord Lieutenant of Angus,The

county of Angus Angus ( sco, Angus; gd, Aonghas) is one of the 32 local government council areas of Scotland, a registration county and a lieutenancy area. The council area borders Aberdeenshire, Dundee City and Perth and Kinross. Main industries include agr ...

was called Forfarshire until 1928. an office he resigned when his daughter became queen. He had a keen interest in

forestry Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests, woodlands, and associated resources for human and environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and natural stands. ...

and was one of the first to grow

larch Larches are deciduous conifers in the genus ''Larix'', of the family Pinaceae (subfamily Laricoideae). Growing from tall, they are native to much of the cooler temperate northern hemisphere, on lowlands in the north and high on mountains fur ...

from seed in Britain. His estates had a large number of smallholders, and he had a reputation for being unusually kind to his tenants. His contemporaries described him as an unpretentious man, often seen in "an old macintosh tied with a piece of twine". He worked his own land and enjoyed physical labour on the grounds of his estates; visitors often mistook him for a common labourer. He made his own cocoa for breakfast, and always had a jug of water by his place at dinner so he could dilute his own wine. Despite the Earl's reservations about royalty, in 1923 his youngest daughter, Elizabeth, married Prince Albert, Duke of York, the second son of

King George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. Born during the reign of his grandmother Qu ...

and Queen Mary. Lord Strathmore was made a Knight Grand Cross of the

Royal Victorian Order The Royal Victorian Order (french: Ordre royal de Victoria) is a dynastic order of knighthood established in 1896 by Queen Victoria. It recognises distinguished personal service to the British monarch, Canadian monarch, Australian monarch, o ...

to mark the marriage. His grand-daughter Princess Elizabeth (later Queen

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states durin ...

) was born at his home, 17

Bruton Street Bruton Street is a street in London's Mayfair district. It runs from Berkeley Square in the south-west to New Bond Street in the north-east, where it continues as Conduit Street. Notable residents have included Field Marshal John Campbell, 2n ...

Mayfair Mayfair is an affluent area in the West End of London towards the eastern edge of Hyde Park, in the City of Westminster, between Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly and Park Lane. It is one of the most expensive districts in the world ...

, in 1926. In 1928 he was made a

Knight of the Thistle A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

.Mosley, Charles, (ed.) ''Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, 107th edition'', Burke's Peerage and Gentry LLC, 2003; vol. III, pp. 3783–4. In 1936, his son-in-law became king and assumed the name George VI. As the father of the new queen, he was created a

Knight of the Garter The Most Noble Order of the Garter is an order of chivalry founded by Edward III of England in 1348. It is the most senior order of knighthood in the British honours system, outranked in precedence only by the Victoria Cross and the George ...

and the 1st Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne, a United Kingdom peerage in the Coronation Honours of 1937 (although he was the 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne which was a Scottish title). This enabled him to sit in the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminst ...

as an earl (because members of the

peerage of Scotland The Peerage of Scotland ( gd, Moraireachd na h-Alba, sco, Peerage o Scotland) is one of the five divisions of peerages in the United Kingdom and for those peers created by the King of Scots before 1707. Following that year's Treaty of Unio ...

did not automatically sit in the House of Lords, he had previously sat only as a

baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or kn ...

through the Barony of Bowes created for his father). At the coronation of his daughter and son-in-law, the Earl and Countess sat in the royal box with Queen Mary and their shared granddaughters, Princesses Elizabeth and

Margaret Margaret is a female first name, derived via French () and Latin () from grc, μαργαρίτης () meaning "pearl". The Greek is borrowed from Persian. Margaret has been an English name since the 11th century, and remained popular through ...

. Later in life the Earl became extremely deaf.Vickers, p. 5. Lord Strathmore died of

bronchitis Bronchitis is inflammation of the bronchi (large and medium-sized airways) in the lungs that causes coughing. Bronchitis usually begins as an infection in the nose, ears, throat, or sinuses. The infection then makes its way down to the bronchi. ...

on 7 November 1944, aged 89, at Glamis Castle. (Lady Strathmore had died in 1938.) He was succeeded by his son Patrick Bowes-Lyon, Lord Glamis.

Marriage and issue

He married

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

on 16 July 1881 in Petersham, Surrey. The couple had ten children. The Earl would part his moustache in a theatrical but courteous gesture before kissing them:Vickers, p. 4.

Ancestry

Arms

Notes

Footnotes

References

*Forbes, Grania, ''My Darling Buffy: The Early Life of The Queen Mother'' (Headline Book Publishing, 1999) *Vickers, Hugo, ''Elizabeth: The Queen Mother'' (Arrow Books/Random House, 2006)

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Strathmore and Kinghorne, Claude George Bowes-Lyon, 14th Earl of 1855 births 1944 deaths Claude Bowes-Lyon, 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne British Life Guards officers Deaths from bronchitis Deputy Lieutenants of Dundee 14 Knights Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order Knights of the Garter Knights of the Order of St John Knights of the Thistle Lord-Lieutenants of Angus People educated at Eton College Earls created by George VI