| Cecilia Cavendish-Bentinck | |
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| Tenure | 16 February 1904 - 23 June 1938 (34 years, 127 days) |
| Predecessor | Frances Smith |
| Successor | Lady Dorothy Osborne |
| Spouse | Claude Bowes-Lyon, 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne |
| Issue | |
| Violet Hyacinth Bowes-Lyon Mary Elphinstone, Lady Elphinstone Patrick Bowes-Lyon, 15th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne John Herbert Bowes-Lyon Alexander Francis Bowes-Lyon Fergus Bowes-Lyon Rose Leveson-Gower, Countess Granville Michael Claude Hamilton Bowes-Lyon Elizabeth, Queen of the United Kingdom David Bowes-Lyon |
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| Father | Charles William Frederick Cavendish-Bentinck |
| Mother | Caroline Louisa Burnaby |
| Born | 11 September 1862 London |
| Died | 23 June 1938 (aged 75) London |
| Burial | 27 June 1938 Glamis Castle |
Cecilia Nina Bowes-Lyon, Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne, née Cavendish-Bentinck, GCVO, DStJ (11 September 1862 – 23 June 1938) was the mother of Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (later Queen Elizabeth, and then Queen Mother) and maternal grandmother and godmother of Queen Elizabeth II. Some sources cite her birth name as Nina Cecilie.[1]
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She was born in London,[2] the eldest daughter of 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 Petersham, Surrey,[3] and 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 grand houses and their surroundings: Glamis Castle and St Paul's Walden Bury. Cecilia was a gregarious and accomplished hostess, who played the piano exceptionally well.[4] Her houses were run with meticulous care and a practical approach,[5] and she was responsible for designing the Italian Garden at Glamis.[6] She was deeply religious, a keen gardener and embroiderer, and preferred a quiet, family life.[7]
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.[8] In October 1921 she underwent a hysterectomy,[9] and by May 1922 she had recovered sufficiently to celebrate the engagement of her youngest daughter, Elizabeth, to the King's son, Prince Albert, Duke of York, later George VI, the following January.[7] When asked by pressmen for a photograph during the Edward VIII abdication crisis, she reportedly said, "I shouldn't waste a photograph on me."[7]
She suffered a heart attack in April 1938 during the wedding of her granddaughter, Anne Bowes-Lyon, to Thomas, Viscount Anson.[10] She died 8 weeks later, aged 75, at 38 Cumberland Mansions, Bryanston Street, in London. Lady Strathmore outlived four of her ten children. She was buried on 27 June 1938 at Glamis Castle.