GOLDEN WEDDING.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 190, 12 August 1931, Page 1

GOLDEN WEDDING.

Celebrations Held at Glamis I C Castle. ( TAXATION CAUSES ANXIETY < United Press Assn. —By Electric * Telegraph—Copyright. j LONDON, August 11. s The golden wedding celebrations of the Earl and Countess of Strathmore, t parents of the Duchess of York, are . overshadowed by the fear that increas- « ing taxation may result in the closing ] of ancient Glamis Castle. Lord Strathmore says that times are i becoming so bad that he may be un- . able to remain in residence. “ Taxation ; absorbs £BO of every £IOO I receive,” he , said. “On top of that comes the new j land tax. I feel afraid that I may have to retire.” Princess Elizabeth rose early to greet her grandparents. ( There were scenes of old time pag- 1 eantry at the castle to-night when four ( hundred tenants and employees, some ( of whom have served the Strathmores j for a lifetime, attended the ball, many being kilted. The Duke and Duchess of York assisted in the arrangements. Two thousand guests will attend the garden part)' to-morrow when Sir Harry Lauder will sing. Claud George Bowes-Lyon, fourteenth * Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne, and father of the Duchess of York, was born in March, 1855. His father, the chirteenth earl, owned about 25.000 acres in Scotland, in the history of which his ancestors played a distinguished part for many centuries. One, Patrick Lyon, was a hostage to England for James I of Scotland about 1425; the third Baron Glamis (one oi the family titles) was Justice-General for Scotland; the wife of the sixth Baron was burnt at Edinburgh: the family was indicted for alleged designs against the life of James V in 1537, and the fifth Earl joined the Pretender, gave him shelter at his home, Glamis Castle, and was killed at Sheriffmuir in 1715. The present earl was for a I time a lieutenant in the 2nd Life | Guards, but retired from the army in 1882. In 1904 on the death of his father he succeeded to the earldom and the estates in Scotland and England, which included one near Welwyn, Hertfordshire At the same time he was made Lord-Lieutenant of Forfarshire Meanwhile he had maintained his military interest by accepting the hon colonelcy of the 4th and sth Battalion Black Watch, and the presidency of the Forfarshire Territorial Association He was also Deputv-Lieutenant for Dundee, and a magistrate for Hertfordshire. From his marriage in 1881 to a daughter of the late Rev C. W. Cavendish-Bentinck he had five sons and three daughters In April, 1923. the youngest of the daughters. Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, who was born in August. 1900. married the Duke of York, the King's second son In April. 1926, the Earl became the grandfather of Princess Elizabeth, and in August. 1930. of Princess Margaret. Tn October 1978 he was made a Knight of the Thistle, an Order second onlv to that of the Garter. His heir is his eldest son. Lord Glamis.