Patrick Bowes-Lyon was born on 22 September 1884 at St Paul's Walden Bury, Hertfordshire to Claude Bowes-Lyon, 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne and Cecilia Cavendish-Bentinck. He was an older brother of Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (later the Queen Mother), and therefore an uncle of Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Margaret. At the outbreak of World War I, he went into service with the Black Watch. On 19 June 1920, he was appointed a deputy lieutenant of Forfarshire.
