Bowes-Lyon was born in 1932, the son of The Hon.
Sir David Bowes-Lyon (1902–1961) and Rachel Pauline Spender-Clay (1907–1996). His father was the sixth son and tenth child of
Claude, 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne. His mother was the daughter of
Herbert Spender-Clay and
Pauline Astor. He had one sister, Davina, who married the
13th Earl of Stair. On 11 April 1966, he married Caroline Mary Victoria Pike (born 27 September 1940), daughter of
Victor Pike, and they have four children. ==Career==