David Bowes-Lyon

{{Other uses|David Lyon (disambiguation){{!}}David Lyon}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| honorific_prefix = The Honourable

| name = Sir David Bowes-Lyon

| honorific_suffix = KCVO

| image = David Bowes-Lyon.jpg

| caption = Portrait by Philip de László, 1931

| birth_date = {{birth date|df=y|1902|5|2}}

| birth_place =

| death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|1961|9|13|1902|5|2}}

| death_place = Birkhall, Royal Deeside, Aberdeenshire, Scotland

| resting_place = St. Paul's Walden Bury

| occupation =

| years_active =

| known_for =

| spouse = {{marriage|Rachel Spender-Clay|6 February 1929}}

| children = Davina Dalrymple, Countess of Stair
Simon Bowes-Lyon

| parents = Claude Bowes-Lyon, 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne
Cecilia Nina Cavendish-Bentinck

| relatives = Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother (sister)
Elizabeth II (niece)
Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon (niece)

| office = High Sheriff of Hertfordshire

| monarch = George VI

| primeminister = Clement Attlee

| viceprimeminister =

| predecessor = Walter Hugh Crosland

| successor = Sir William Acland, Bt

| office2 = Lord Lieutenant of Hertfordshire

| term_start2 = 1952

| term_end2 = 1961

| monarch2 = George VI
Elizabeth II

| primeminister2 = Winston Churchill
Anthony Eden
Harold Macmillan

| viceprimeminister2 =

| predecessor2 = The Viscount Hampden

| successor2 = Sir George Burns

| term = 1950

}}

Sir David Bowes-Lyon KCVO (2 May 1902 – 13 September 1961) was a British aristocrat who was the younger brother of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and uncle to Queen Elizabeth II.{{cite book|title=Gardeners Chronicle & New Horticulturist|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4fZIAAAAYAAJ|accessdate=29 July 2013|year=1954|publisher=Haymarket Publishing}}

Early life

Bowes-Lyon was born on 2 May 1902.{{cite book|last=Thornton|first=Michael|title=Royal feud: the Queen Mother and the Duchess of Windsor|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xuAgAAAAMAAJ|accessdate=29 July 2013|date=September 1985|publisher=M. Joseph|isbn=9780718126001}} He was the tenth and youngest child, and the sixth son, 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 the former Frances Smith.White, Geoffrey and Cokayne, G. E., The Complete Peerage, St Catherine's Press, London, 1953; vol. XII, pp. 402–3. His maternal grandparents were the Rev. Charles Cavendish-Bentinck (grandson of the British Prime Minister, the 3rd Duke of Portland) and his wife, Louisa Burnaby (a daughter of courtier Edwyn Burnaby).

Career

File:David Bowes-Lyon memorial in Saint Paul's Walden, Hertfordshire.jpg

During World War II, Bowes-Lyon was a member of the secret propaganda department Political Warfare Executive. He was High Sheriff of Hertfordshire in 1950 and Lord Lieutenant of Hertfordshire from 1 July 1952{{London Gazette | issue=239587 |page=3587 | date=1 July 1952}} until his death.

On 15 December 1948, Bowes-Lyon attended the christening of his great-nephew Prince Charles. He was one of eight sponsors of the prince, along with 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. {{cite web|url=https://www.rct.uk/collection/themes/exhibitions/hrh-the-prince-of-wales-an-exhibition-to-celebrate-his-sixtieth-0/the|title=The Christening of Prince Charles|publisher=Royal Collection Trust|access-date=February 18, 2022}}

As a keen gardener, Bowes-Lyon was awarded the Victoria Medal of Honour in 1953 and served as president of the Royal Horticultural Society from 1953 to 1961.{{cite book|last=Fletcher|first=Harold Roy|title=The story of the Royal Horticultural Society, 1804–1968|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CMDNAAAAMAAJ|accessdate=29 July 2013|year=1969|publisher=Oxford U. P. for the Royal Horticultural Society|isbn=978-0-19-212944-4}}{{cite book|title=The Lily Year Book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rp0hAQAAIAAJ|accessdate=29 July 2013|year=1959|publisher=Royal Horticultural Society}} In 1960, he commanded the third World Orchid Conference.{{cite book|title=Proceedings of the Third World Orchid Conference|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c1REAAAAYAAJ|accessdate=29 July 2013|year=1960|publisher=Royal Horticultural Society}}

Bowes-Lyon was made a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order in the 1959 Birthday Honours.

Personal life

On 6 February 1929, David Bowes-Lyon married Rachel Pauline Spender-Clay (1907–1996), younger daughter of Herbert Henry Spender-Clay. Together, they had two children:

Davina Katherine Bowes-Lyon (1930–2017), who married John Aymer Dalrymple, Viscount Dalrymple, later 13th Earl of Stair (1906–1996), in 1960.
Sir Simon Alexander Bowes-Lyon (b. 1932), who married Caroline Mary Viktoria Pike (b. 1940) in 1966.

Bowes-Lyon died at his sister Elizabeth's home, Birkhall, on the Balmoral estate, of a heart attack after suffering from hemiplegia on 13 September 1961, aged 59.{{cite news |title=Sir David Bowes Lyon is Dead; Headed Mission to U. S. in War; Coordinated Intelligence and Propaganda--Uncle of the Queen Was Horticulturist |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1961/09/14/archives/sir-david-bowes-lyon-is-dead-headed-mission-to-u-s-in-war.html?searchResultPosition=1 |access-date=30 October 2024 |work=The New York Times |date=14 September 1961}} The Queen Mother discovered him dead in bed.{{cite book|last=Vickers|first=Hugo|title=Elizabeth: The Queen Mother|publisher=Arrow Books/Random House|year=2006|isbn=978-0-09-947662-7|page=394 }} The funeral was held at Ballater, and he was buried at St Paul's Walden Bury. His widow died thirty-four years later on 21 January 1996, aged 89.