Born in London, Mary grew up first in Edinburgh and then Buckinghamshire, the place her father had inherited the Christopher Wren-designed stately dwelling, Winslow Hall. After the warfare, she travelled, studying French in Paris and finding out home science at Oxford, earlier than shifting to London. In Germany in 1955, she met Fergus Bowes-Lyon, who would grow to be her husband only one yr later – at a marriage attended by Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret.
For a lot of their early married life, Mary and Fergus lived at The White House on the property of Glamis (*92*), the traditional Scottish pile the place the Queen Mother grew up, the place Princess Margaret was born, and which Fergus would inherit in 1972 when he grew to become the seventeenth Earl of Strathmore. The new Earl and Countess moved to the fortress full-time in 1975, immersing themselves in life on the property and within the surrounding neighborhood.
Mary grew to become one of probably the most influential, admired and revered people in Angus, who was held in deep affection by everybody from her employees and the locals, to the royals who incessantly visited her at Glamis. Speaking about Queen Elizabeth, Lady Strathmore as soon as recalled: ‘One of her lovely memories that she told me was riding before breakfast on a cold frosty morning and galloping down that drive, which is a mile long, and coming back ravenous for porridge for breakfast. I can just imagine that.’
