Lord Glamis and the Hon. Francis Bowes-Lyon

Claude George Bowes-Lyon, known by the honorary title Lord Glamis until he inherited his estates, and the Honourable Francis (‘Frank’) Bowes-Lyon were the eldest sons of Claude Bowes-Lyon, 13th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne. Their mother was Frances Dora née Smith, daughter of Oswald Smith of Blendon Hall, Bexley, Kent.

Claude was born on 14 March 1855. Educated at Eton, he subsequently served as a Lieutenant in the 2nd Life Guards between 1876 and 1882. He married Cecilia Nina Cavendish-Bentinck, daughter of Reverend Charles William Frederick Cavendish-Bentinck on 16 July 1881 at Petersham in London. Their marriage produced ten children. In 1923 their ninth child, Lady Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon, married the Duke of York, later King George VI. The boy seen here is therefore the maternal grandfather of Queen Elizabeth II.

Lord Glamis succeeded to his titles on 16 February 1904, becoming the 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne. He died, aged 89, on 7 November 1944 at Glamis Castle in Angus.

Born on 23 February 1856, Frank was also educated at Eton. On 23 November 1883 he married Lady Anne Catherine Sybil Lindsay, daughter of Alexander Lindsay, 25th Earl of Crawford. Their marriage produced seven children.

The Honourable Francis Bowes-Lyon died on 18 February 1948. According to a brief obituary in The Scotsman (19 February 1948): ‘The Hon. Francis Bowes-Lyon, second son of the 13th Earl of Strathmore and uncle of the Queen, died at his home, Ridley Hall, Bardon Mill, Northumberland, on Tuesday. He would have been 92 on Monday. Mr Bowes-Lyon, who at one time was Colonel Commanding the 2nd Volunteer Battalion of the Black Watch, was a Deputy-Lieutenant of Forfarshire and Northumberland. He had been a member of the King’s Bodyguard for Scotland, Royal Company of Archers, since 1881, and was a past Provincial Grandmaster of Forfarshire. His wife, Lady Anne Catherine Sybil Lindsay, fifth daughter of the Earl of Crawford and Balcarres, died in 1936. There were three sons and four daughters of the marriage, of whom two sons and three daughters survive.’

Photographed by Camille Silvy of London on 25 April 1861.