Michael Bowes-Lyon

Michael Claude Hamilton Bowes-Lyon was born on October 1, 1893, and died on May 1, 1953. He was a member of the British royal family, the elder brother of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and the maternal uncle of Queen Elizabeth II.

He was the fifth son and eighth child of Claude Bowes-Lyon, Lord Glamis, who later became the 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne, and Cecilia Cavendish-Bentinck. Bowes-Lyon received his education at Eton College and subsequently attended Magdalen College, Oxford.

During the First World War, Bowes-Lyon served in the British Army, specifically in France with The Royal Scots (Lothian Regiment). On April 28, 1917, he was reported as missing in action. Three weeks later, it was confirmed that he had been wounded and captured by enemy forces. He was subsequently held as a prisoner of war at the Holzminden prisoner-of-war camp for the duration of the war. He relinquished his military commission in 1921.

Following his military service, Bowes-Lyon served as a justice of the peace and as a deputy lieutenant for Bedfordshire. He resided at Gastlings, near Biggleswade.

In 1928, he married Elizabeth Margaret Cator, the daughter of John Cator. The wedding took place at St George's, Hanover Square. Elizabeth Cator had previously been a bridesmaid at Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother's wedding to Prince Albert, Duke of York, in 1923. Michael and Elizabeth had four children: two sons and twin daughters.

Their children were Fergus Michael Claude Bowes-Lyon (born December 31, 1928, died August 19, 1987), who later became the 17th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne; Mary Cecilia Bowes-Lyon (born January 30, 1932, died January 2, 2021); Patricia Maud Bowes-Lyon (also born January 30, 1932, died April 1, 1995); and Michael Albemarle Bowes-Lyon (born May 29, 1940, died October 30, 2023).

After the death of his brother, the 15th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne, Bowes-Lyon became the heir presumptive to the earldom of his nephew, the 16th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne. However, he died before his nephew, and the title was inherited by his eldest son, Fergus, in 1972. In 1974, Bowes-Lyon's younger children received the courtesy title and rank of the children of an earl through a royal warrant of precedence.

Michael Bowes-Lyon died at his residence in Biggleswade due to asthma, a condition that was exacerbated by his previous imprisonment during the war. He was buried in the churchyard of Glamis Parish Church.