Cecilia Nina Bowes-Lyon, Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne (née 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.
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Life
Cecilia Nina Cavendish-Bentinck was born on 11 September 1862 at 50 Eaton Place in Belgravia, Westminster, 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).
On 16 July 1881, she married Claude Bowes-Lyon, Lord Glamis, at St Peter's Church, Petersham, Surrey. 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 stately homes and their surroundings: Glamis Castle, where Cecilia designed the Italian garden, and St Paul's Walden Bury. Cecilia was described as a gregarious and accomplished hostess who played the piano well and managed her houses with care and a practical approach. According to The Times, she was deeply religious, a keen gardener and embroiderer, and preferred a quiet family life.
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. In October 1921 she underwent a hysterectomy, 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. When asked by pressmen for a photograph during the Edward VIII abdication crisis, she reportedly said, "I shouldn't waste a photograph on me." At the coronation of their son-in-law and daughter, the Earl and 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. She died eight weeks later on 23 June at 38 Cumberland Mansions, near Bryanston Square in London, aged 75. Lady Strathmore outlived four of her ten children. She was buried on 27 June at Glamis Castle.