David Bowes-Lyon

Sir David Bowes-Lyon KCVO (2 May 1902 – 13 September 1961) 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. He was the younger brother of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and uncle to Queen Elizabeth II.

Marriage and issue
On 6 February 1929, David Bowes-Lyon married Rachel Pauline Spender-Clay (19 January 1907 – 21 January 1996), younger daughter of Herbert Henry Spender-Clay, they had two children:
 * Davina Katherine Bowes-Lyon (2 May 1930 – 1 November 2017); married on 14 January 1960 John Aymer Dalrymple, Viscount Dalrymple, later 13th Earl of Stair (9 October 1906 – 26 February 1996).
 * Sir Simon Alexander Bowes-Lyon (born 17 June 1932); married Caroline Mary Viktoria Pike (born 27 September 1940) on 11 April 1966

Later life
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 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.

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. In 1960, he commanded the third World Orchid Conference.

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

Death
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. The Queen Mother discovered him dead in bed. 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.