The Bowes-Lyon family descends from George Bowes of Gibside and Streatlam Castle (1701–1760), a County Durham landowner and politician, through John Bowes, 9th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne, chief of the Clan Lyon. Following the marriage in 1767 of the 9th Earl (John Lyon) to rich heiress Mary Eleanor Bowes, the family name was changed to Bowes by Act of Parliament[date missing]. The 10th Earl changed the name to Lyon-Bowes[date missing] and the 13th Earl, Claude, changed the order to Bowes-Lyon[date missing].[1]
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Notable members of the family include:
- Mary Bowes, Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne (1749–1800), known as "The Unhappy Countess", was an 18th-century British heiress, notorious for her licentious lifestyle, who was married at one time to the 9th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne.
- Claude Bowes-Lyon, 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne, (1855–1944) was a landowner, and the father of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother.
- Patrick Bowes-Lyon (1863–1946), younger brother of the 14th Earl, winner of the 1887 Wimbledon doubles.
- Fergus Bowes-Lyon (1889–1915) noted golfer killed in the First World War, brother of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother.
- Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother (born Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon; 1900–2002), Queen of the United Kingdom as the wife of George VI, and mother of Elizabeth II.
- Princess Anne of Denmark, born Anne Ferelith Fenella Bowes-Lyon (1917–80), was the mother of royal photographer Patrick Anson, 5th Earl of Lichfield, and a first cousin of Elizabeth II.
- Nerissa and Katherine Bowes-Lyon were the third and fifth daughters of John Herbert Bowes-Lyon, the Queen Mother's brother, and his wife, Fenella Bowes-Lyon. In 1941, when Katherine was 15 years old and Nerissa was 22, they were sent from the family home in Scotland to Royal Earlswood Hospital at Redhill, Surrey, where they would live out the rest of their days.[2]
- Michael Bowes-Lyon, 18th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne (1957–2016).
- The Bowes Museum, a purpose-built public art gallery for John Bowes and his wife Joséphine Chevalier, Countess of Montalbo[broken anchor], has a nationally renowned art collection and is situated in the town of Barnard Castle, Teesdale, County Durham, England.
- Gibside, a country estate, set amongst the peaks and slopes of the Derwent Valley, near Rowlands Gill, Tyne and Wear, North East England, which was previously owned by the Bowes-Lyon family and is now a National Trust property.
- Glamis Castle, situated beside the village of Glamis in Angus, Scotland, is the home of the Earl and Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne, and is open to the public.
- St Paul's Walden Bury is a stately home and surrounding gardens of the Bowes-Lyon family located in the village of St Paul's Walden in Hertfordshire, best known for its connection to the late Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother.
- Streatlam Castle, a Baroque stately home owned by the Bowes-Lyon family, located near the town of Barnard Castle in County Durham, England. It proved too expensive to maintain, and so was blown up with dynamite in 1959.
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