| Lord Strathmore |
| THE TIMES |
| Thursday June 23, 1938 |
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THE QUEENS MOTHER HOME AND FAMILY LIFE We announce with the deepest regret that the Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne, mother of the Queen, died early today at her London residence. She was 75 years of age. The King and Queen were both present at the end, as well as Lord Strathmore. Lady Strathmore had been ill for some weeks and yesterday was reported to be "not so well." Her daughter Lady Rose Leveson-Gower during the day left the Isle of Man for London by air and arrived in time to see her mother. The Right Hon. Nina Cecilia, Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne, was born on September 11, 1862. Her father was the Rev. Charles William Frederick Cavendish-Bentinck, who was educated at Merton College, Oxford. As he died at the comparatively early age of 47, in 1865, Lady Strathmore had no clear recollection of him. Mr. Cavendish-Bentinck was the grandson of the 3rd Duke of Portland, who was twice Prime Minister in George III's reign. In view of Lady Strathmore's subsequent connexion with the Royal Family, it is interesting to recall that her grandfather, Lord Charles Bentinck, married as his first wife Miss Georgiana Augusta Frederica Seymour, who was generally supposed to be the natural daughter of King George IV. They had an only daughter, who died in 1888. Mr. Cavendish-Bentinck, Lord Charles's son by his second marriage, married in 1859 Miss Caroline Louisa Burnaby, by whom he had three daughters, of whom Lady Strathmore was the eldest. Had she been a boy she would have succeeded to the dukedom of Portland. Mrs. Cavendish-Bentinck married secondly, when Lady Strathmore was eight years old, Mr. Harry Warren Scott. She died in 1918. |
In 1881, when she was 19, Miss Cavendish-Bentinck married Lord Glamis, who succeeded his father in 1904 as the fourteenth Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne. During the first years of her marriage Lady Strathmore was much occupied with the care of her nursery. Between 1882 and 1902 she had 10 children. During the lifetime of the thirteenth earl, Lord and Lady Glamis lived principally at St. Paul's Walden Bury - a pleasant Queen Anne House in Hertfordshire. It was there that her present Majesty was born, and there that the greater part of her childhood was spent. Even after succeeding to the peerage Lord and Lady Strathmore seldom spent more than three months in each year at Glamis - their Scottish home which truly merits that oft abused adjective historic, though since the middle of the nineteenth century the family has occupied only one of the wings of the castle, which was rebuilt for that purpose. The position of a lord of Glamis, even in the twentieth century, is extremely important in Scotland, and he is looked up to by his tenants and servants with a respect and sense of devotion which savours of feudalism. It is a position difficult to understand perhaps by some bred in the south, but Lady Strathmore from the first filled her position with ease and distinction. Moreover, she rapidly won the love and esteem of her new countrymen. It is no exaggeration to say that the territorial ties which have long bound the family of Bowes-Lyon to Scotland were strengthened by the simplicity and hospitality of Lady Strathmore. In 1907 Lady Strathmore, a keen gardener, began to design a formal Dutch garden, which has been an addition to the beauties of Glamis. Surrounded by yew hedges, this formal garden has many examples of stone carving - a local industry encouraged by Lady Strathmore. The garden took three years to complete. The practical results of another of Lady Strathmore's hobbies are to be seen in the castle. All her life she was an enthusiastic needlewoman, and when the bedspread which covered the bed on which Prince Charles Edward slept fell to pieces, she embroidered a replica, placing on the valence the names of her ten children. |
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In the early days of the war Glamis was turned into a hospital for the wounded, and Lady Strathmore played an active part in looking after the men and caring for their comforts. Frequently in the evenings Lady Strathmore would play the piano; and to this accompaniment the men sang lusty choruses. The many wounded soldiers who passed through Glamis, benefiting from the skilled nursing and enjoying the friendship of a delightful family, will recall with gratitude today that sympathetic and kindly personality. Three years after the war Lady Strathmore had a serious illness and for six months considerable anxiety was felt for her, but by May, 1922, she had recovered and was able to take a full part in the rejoicing and celebrations over her daughter's marriage to the Duke of York in the following year. When the Princess Elizabeth was born, Lady Strathmore was chosen to be one of the godmothers, Queen Mary and the Princess Royal being the other two. In 1931 Lord and Lady Strathmore celebrated their golden wedding, receiving from the members of their family a portrait of themselves painted by the late Mr. de Laszlo. Lady Strathmore gave her husband a hand sewn picture designed and embroidered by herself, the subject being "Glamis Castle as seen through a wooded Copse." |
In spite of the august position of her youngest daughter, Lady Strathmore was never a very familiar figure to the general public. She never sought publicity, and leading the quiet life of one whose love was centered round her home and family, she never attracted it. She was characteristically supposed to have said to a group of Press photographers who clustered round her when she was calling at 1:45, Piccadilly, after the King's accession: "I should not waste a photograph on me." By her simplicity and modesty she won the affectionate respect of the British public, who realized that she represented the best and most abiding qualities of an aristocratic tradition. Those who knew her intimately were unfailingly struck by the serenity and imperturbability of her character - qualities indicating the firm foundation of her religious beliefs. Lady Strathmore is survived by her husband and by six of her ten children. She had six sons, of which three are living - Lord Glamis, Captain the Hon. Michael Bowes-Lyon, and the Hon. David Bowes-Lyon. Captain the Hon. Fergus Bowes-Lyon was killed in the War, and the Hon. John Bowes-Lyon died in 1930. Another son died unmarried in 1911. Her eldest daughter died at the age of 11 in 1893. Her second daughter is Lady Elphinstone, and her third Lady Rose Leveson-Gower. Her Majesty is her youngest daughter. |