Bowes-Lyon family
Appearance
Bowes-Lyon family | |
---|---|
Parent house | Clan Lyon |
Country | United Kingdom |
Founder | John Lyon and Mary Bowes |
Current head | Simon Bowes-Lyon |
Titles | |
Members | Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother |
Estate(s) | Glamis Castle (seat) Streatlam Castle Gibside |
The Bowes Lyon family descends from George Bowes of Gibside and Streatlam Castle (1701–1760), a County Durham landowner and politician, through John Bowes, 9th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne, chief of the Clan Lyon. Following the marriage in 1767 of the 9th Earl (John Lyon) to rich heiress Mary Eleanor Bowes, the family name was changed to Bowes by Act of Parliament. The 10th Earl changed the name to Lyon-Bowes and the 13th Earl, Claude, changed the order to Bowes Lyon.[1]
Notable members of the family include:
- Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, born Elizabeth Bowes Lyon, mother of Elizabeth II
- Claude Bowes-Lyon, 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne, (1855–1944) was a landowner, and the father of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother.
- John Lyon, Lord of Glamis, (c. 1340–82), was Chamberlain of Scotland between 1377 and 1382.
- Mary Bowes, Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne (1749–1800), known as "The Unhappy Countess", was an 18th-century British heiress, notorious for her licentious lifestyle, who was married at one time to the 9th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne.
- Michael Bowes-Lyon, 18th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne (1957–2016)
- Patrick Bowes-Lyon (1863–1946), younger brother of the 14th Earl, winner of the 1887 Wimbledon doubles.
- Princess Anne of Denmark, born Anne Ferelith Fenella Bowes-Lyon (1917–80), was the mother of royal photographer Patrick Anson, 5th Earl of Lichfield, and a first cousin of Elizabeth II.
- Fergus Bowes-Lyon (1889-1915) noted golfer killed in the First World War, brother of the Queen Mother
Related places
- The Bowes Museum, a purpose-built as a public art gallery for John Bowes and his wife Joséphine Chevalier, Countess of Montalbo, has a nationally renowned art collection and is situated in the town of Barnard Castle, Teesdale, County Durham, England.
- Gibside, a country estate, set amongst the peaks and slopes of the Derwent Valley, near Rowlands Gill, Tyne and Wear, North East England, which was previously owned by the Bowes Lyon family and is now a National Trust property.
- Glamis Castle, situated beside the village of Glamis in Angus, Scotland, is the home of the Earl and Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne, and is open to the public.
- St Paul's Walden Bury is a stately home and surrounding gardens of the Bowes-Lyon family located in the village of St Paul's Walden in Hertfordshire, best known for its connection to the late Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother.
- Streatlam Castle, a Baroque stately home owned by the Bowes-Lyon family, located near the town of Barnard Castle in County Durham, England. It proved too expensive to maintain, and so was blown up with dynamite in 1959.
Other
- Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne, created in the Peerage of Scotland in 1606 for Patrick Lyon.
- Monster of Glamis, allegedly a surviving deformed member of the Bowes Lyon family, born in 1821 and kept in seclusion in Glamis Castle.