David Bowes-Lyon

Sir David Bowes-Lyon KCVO (2 May 1902 – 13 September 1961) was a member of the British aristocracy and a relative of the British royal family. He was the younger brother of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and the uncle of Queen Elizabeth II.

Born on 2 May 1902, David Bowes-Lyon was the tenth and youngest child of Claude Bowes-Lyon, 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne, and Cecilia Nina Cavendish-Bentinck. His paternal grandparents were Claude Bowes-Lyon, 13th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne, and Frances Smith. His maternal grandparents were Rev. Charles Cavendish-Bentinck, a descendant of the third Duke of Portland and a grandson of Prime Minister William Cavendish, 3rd Duke of Portland, and Louisa Burnaby, a daughter of courtier Edwyn Burnaby.

During the Second World War, Bowes-Lyon served in the secret propaganda department of the Political Warfare Executive. He held the role of High Sheriff of Hertfordshire in 1950 and was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Hertfordshire on 1 July 1952, a position he held until his death.

On 15 December 1948, Bowes-Lyon was present at the christening of his great-nephew, Prince Charles. He was one of eight sponsors of the infant prince, alongside notable figures including King George VI, King Haakon VII of Norway, Queen Mary, Princess Margaret, the Dowager Marchioness of Milford Haven, Patricia, Lady Brabourne, and Prince George of Greece and Denmark.

He was an avid gardener, receiving the Victoria Medal of Honour in 1953, an award recognizing excellence in horticulture. From 1953 to 1961, he served as the president of the Royal Horticultural Society. In 1960, Bowes-Lyon led the third World Orchid Conference.

In the 1959 Birthday Honours, he was appointed a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (KCVO).

He married Rachel Pauline Spender-Clay on 6 February 1929. She was born in 1907 and died in 1996. She was the daughter of Herbert Henry Spender-Clay and Pauline Spender-Clay. The couple had two children: Davina Katherine Bowes-Lyon (1930–2017), who married John Aymer Dalrymple, Viscount Dalrymple, later 13th Earl of Stair, in 1960; and Sir Simon Alexander Bowes-Lyon (born 1932), who married Caroline Mary Viktoria Pike in 1966.

David Bowes-Lyon died of a heart attack on 13 September 1961 at Birkhall, on the Balmoral estate, where his sister Elizabeth resided. He had suffered from hemiplegia prior to his death. The Queen Mother discovered him deceased in his bed. His funeral was held at Ballater, and he was buried at St Paul's Walden Bury. His widow, Rachel, died on 21 January 1996 at age 89.