Frances Dora Bowes-Lyon, Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne (née Smith; 29 July 1832 – 5 February 1922) 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 (1794–1863), of Blendon Hall, Bexley, Kent, banker with Smith, Payne, and Smith, and Henrietta Mildred Hodgson (1805–1891).

Marriage

On 28 September 1853, Frances married Claude Bowes-Lyon (21 July 1824 – 16 February 1904). 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:

Death

The Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne died on 16 February 1904, in the Liguria region of Italy. The Countess survived him by almost eighteen years. She died at 19 Hans Place, Chelsea, London on 5 February 1922, aged 89. She was buried at Glamis Castle, Angus, the family seat of the earls of Strathmore and Kinghorne.

Ancestry

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, great-great-grandfather of Oswald Mosley.