EARLY HISTORY, 1900-1936
The Honourable Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon was born on 4 August 1900. She was the fourth daughter of Lord Glamis, later 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne.
The Bowes-Lyon family is descended from the Royal House of Scotland, and The Queen Mother remained proud of her Scottish ancestry throughout her life. One of The Queen Mother's 14th-century ancestors, Sir John Lyon, became Thane of Glamis, home of Macbeth 300 years previously, and Glamis Castle is the family seat.
Her early years were spent at St Paul's Waldenbury in Hertfordshire, north of London. This was the country home of her parents.
Lady Elizabeth was educated at home By the age of 10, she was fluent in French.
When the First World War started, on her 14th birthday, Glamis Castle became a hospital.
Although Lady Elizabeth was too young to work as a nurse, she did assist with welfare work with the patients. One of her brothers, Fergus, was killed at the Battle of Loos in 1915.
From childhood days Lady Elizabeth and her older sisters had been friendly with the children of King George V and Queen Mary. Occasionally, members of the Royal Family stayed at Glamis Castle. In 1922 Lady Elizabeth acted as one of the bridesmaids at the wedding of their daughter, Princess Mary.
In January 1923 came the announcement of her engagement to The Duke of York (Prince Albert Frederick Arthur George), the second son of King George V and Queen Mary.
They were married on 26 April 1923 in Westminster Abbey. After the ceremony she spontaneously stopped to lay her bouquet on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, a tribute to the dead of the First World War.
The Duke and Duchess of York had two children. Princess Elizabeth, now the present Queen, was born on 21 April 1926 at the Strathmores' London home, 17 Bruton Street. Princess Margaret was born on 21 August 1930 at Glamis Castle. She was to predecease her mother, dying on 9 February 2002.
The Duchess made her first public appearance as a member of the Royal Family on 30 June 1923, at the RAF pageant at Hendon. Afterwards she made many overseas journeys with the Duke.
Six months after their wedding, the Duke and Duchess of York went to Belgrade, where they both stood sponsor at the christening of the future King Peter II of Yugoslavia.
Later they travelled to Kenya, Uganda and the Sudan, and in 1927 they spent six months on a world tour, during which the Duke opened the Federal Parliament of Australia in Canberra, the new capital.
