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Monday, January 04, 2021

The Lady Mary Cecilia Colman 1932-2021

 _. The Lady Mary Colman, who died at her home, 2 January, 2021, aged 88, was a first cousin of Her Majesty the Queen, and wife of Sir Timothy Colman, KG, sometime Lord Lieutenant of Norfolk.

Lady Mary served as an Extra Lady-in-Waiting to HRH Princess Alexandra, the Hon Lady Ogilvy, from 1970.

She was born Mary Cecilia Bowes Lyon, 30 January, 1932, twin with a sister, Patricia [always known as Tisha, who died 1 Apr, 1995], the elder daughter of Captain the Hon Michael Claude Hamilton Bowes Lyon [1893-1953], of The Royal Scots, and his wife the former Elizabeth Margaret Cator [1899-1959], scion of that landed gentry family.

A niece of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, and a first cousin of HM The Queen, her father was the 5th son of the 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne, KG, KT, GCVO [1855-1944]. 

The Hon Michael Bowes Lyon was reported to have watched from the gallery of the House of Commons as the Abdication Bill was passed, thus witnessing the moment his sister became Queen Consort in 1936.

Mary Bowes Lyon, a childhood playmate of her cousins the Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret, was advanced to the rank of an Earl's daughter, in 1974, following the succession in 1972 of her brother, Fergus, as 17th Earl of Strathmore & Kinghorne [1928-87].

Her coming out ball, shared with her twin Tisha, was held at Londonderry House, London, with King George VI and her aunt Queen Elizabeth heading the guest list.

Mary Cecilia Bowes Lyon married 10 November, 1951, Timothy James Alan Colman [born 19 Sept, 1929], of Bixley Manor, Norwich, scion of the Norfolk mustard family, and descended maternally from the Adeane landed family.

Lady Mary was a godmother of Diana, Princess of Wales, who was christened at Sandringham, in 1961.

Her husband was Lord Lieutenant of Norfolk, 1978-2004, and chairman of the Eastern Counties Newspaper Group. He was appointed a Knight of the Order of the Garter in 1996.

She is survived by Sir Timothy, and by two sons, James and Matthew, and three daughters, Sarah, Sabrina and Emma. The eldest daughter, Sarah Troughton, is Lord Lieutenant of Wiltshire.

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