Frances Bowes-Lyon, Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne

Frances Dora Bowes-Lyon, Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne was a British noblewoman. She was the paternal grandmother of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, and thus a great-grandmother of Queen Elizabeth II.

Early life

Frances Smith was born to Oswald Smith, of Blendon Hall, Bexley, Kent, banker with Smith, Payne, and Smith, and Henrietta Mildred Hodgson.

On 28 September 1853, Frances married Claude Bowes-Lyon, 13th [Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne|Claude Bowes-Lyon]. He became the 13th holder of the Earldom of Strathmore and Kinghorne following the death of his brother Thomas in 1865. Frances then assumed the title and style of Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne. Together the couple had 11 children:

Claude Bowes-Lyon, 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne, the father of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and grandfather of Queen Elizabeth II. He married Cecilia Cavendish-Bentinck on 16 July 1881. They had 10 children.
Francis Bowes-Lyon, married Lady Anne Lindsay on 23 November 1883. They had seven children, including Lilian Bowes Lyon.
Ernest Bowes-Lyon, married Isobel Hester Drummond on 23 August 1882. They had six children, including Ernestine Bowes-Lyon.
Herbert Bowes-Lyon, never married.
Patrick Bowes-Lyon, a major of the British Army and a tennis player. He married Alice Wiltshire on 9 August 1893. They had four children.
Lady Constance Frances Bowes-Lyon, married Robert Blackburn on 21 December 1893. They had four children.
Kenneth Bowes-Lyon, never married.
Lady Mildred Marion Bowes-Lyon, a music composer, famous for Etelinda. She married Augustus Jessup on 1 July 1890. They had two children.
Lady Maud Agnes Bowes-Lyon, never married.
Lady Evelyn Mary Bowes-Lyon, died in infancy.
Maj. Malcolm Bowes-Lyon, a lieutenant colonel of the British Army. He married Winifred Gurdon-Rebow on 28 September 1907. They had a daughter.
Later life and death

The Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne died on 16 February 1904, in the Liguria region of Italy, where the Strathmores owned a large house, Villa Etelinda. Lady Strathmore took ownership of the property following her husband's death, and it was later sold to Queen Margherita, the Queen Mother of Italy in 1913.
The Countess survived her late husband by almost 18 years. Her London residence during her widowhood was No. 19 Hans Place, Chelsea. She died at her London residence on 5 February 1922, aged 89. She was buried at Glamis Castle, Angus, the family seat of the earls of Strathmore and Kinghorne.

Her paternal grandparents were George Smith, and wife Frances Mary Mosley, daughter of Sir John Parker Mosley, 1st Baronet, and wife Elizabeth Bayley, granddaughter of Nicholas Mosley and wife Elizabeth Parker, and sister of Oswald Mosley, 2nd Baronet, of Ancoats|Oswald Mosley, 2nd Baronet], great-great-grandfather of Oswald Mosley.