Mary Elphinstone, Lady Elphinstone
Mary Frances Buller-Fullerton-Elphinstone, Lady Elphinstone DCVO (née Lady Mary Frances Bowes-Lyon; 30 August 1883 – 8 February 1961), was a maternal aunt and godparent of Elizabeth II.
The Lady Elphinstone | |
|---|---|
 Portrait by Philip de László, 1929 | |
| Born | Hon. Mary Frances Bowes-Lyon 30 August 1883 Angus, Scotland |
| Died | 8 February 1961 (aged 77) Inveresk, Scotland |
| Title | Lady Elphinstone |
| Spouse(s) | Sidney Elphinstone, 16th Lord Elphinstone
( m. 1910; died 1955) |
| Children |
|
| Parent(s) | |
Early life
Lady Elphinstone was born Lady Mary Frances Bowes-Lyon on 30 August 1883 in Angus, Scotland, to Claude Bowes-Lyon, 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne and Cecilia Cavendish-Bentinck. She was an elder sister of Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon known as Queen Elizabeth of the United Kingdom (later The Queen Mother).[1]
Personal life
Lady Mary married Sidney Elphinstone, 16th Lord Elphinstone (1869–1955) on 24 July 1910 in Westminster. Lord Elphinstone inherited extensive estates, some of which had been in the family since the reign of King David II of Scotland. He served as a governor of the Bank of Scotland, Lord Clerk Register of Scotland and Keeper of the Signet and Lord High Commissioner of the Church of Scotland.[2] The couple had five children:
- The Hon. Mary Elizabeth Elphinstone (1911–1980), who was a bridesmaid at the wedding of Prince Albert, Duke of York, and Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon in 1923.[3]
- John Elphinstone, 17th Lord Elphinstone (1914–1975)
- The Hon. Jean Constance Elphinstone (1915–1999), who married Captain John Wills. Their daughter Marilyn is a god-daughter of Princess Margaret and was a bridesmaid at her 1960 wedding.[4]
- The Rev. The Hon. Andrew Charles Victor Elphinstone (1918–1975), who married Jean Hambro and had issue. His wife was a Lady-in-Waiting to Queen Elizabeth II [5]
- The Hon. Margaret Elphinstone (1925–2016), who married Denys Rhodes and had issue. She was a bridesmaid at the wedding in 1947 of The Princess Elizabeth (now Queen Elizabeth II) and Prince Philip (now the Duke of Edinburgh).
In 1937, she attended her sister and brother-in-law's coronation whereby she sat behind her niece, Princess Elizabeth, who would be the future queen, in the royal box.
Lord Elphinstone died at their home Carberry Tower, Musselburgh, on 28 November 1955.[2] Lady Elphinstone, who served as president of the Midlothian branch of the British Red Cross, died on 8 February 1961, aged 77, also at Carberry Tower in Inveresk, Scotland.[1]
Ancestry
References
- Times, Special to The New York (9 February 1961). "Lady Elphinstone". The New York Times. Retrieved 17 April 2020.
- Times, Special to The New York (29 November 1955). "ELPHINSTONE DIES; SCOTTISH LORD, 86; Brother-in-Law of the Queen Mother, Sixteenth Holder of Title, Was Sportsman". The New York Times. Retrieved 17 April 2020.
- "The Queen Mother in pictures". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 17 May 2018.
- "Yvonne's Royalty Home Page: Royal Godchildren". Archived from the original on 2 May 2012. Retrieved 17 March 2018.
- "Yvonne's Royalty Home Page: Queen Elizabeth II's Coronation Attendants". Archived from the original on 2 May 2012. Retrieved 17 March 2018.
External links
- Portraits of Lady Mary Frances Elphinstone (née Bowes-Lyon) at the National Portrait Gallery, London
- Bust by Francis Derwent Wood at the Royal Academy