David Bowes-Lyon and Rachel Spender-Clay Country Life Magazine Portrait February 16 1929

The Hon. David Bowes-Lyon and Rachel Spender-Clay Country Life Magazine Portrait, Frontispiece, February 16 1929. LXV No. 1674

The featured frontispiece this week is a photograph of The Hon. David and Mrs. Bowes-Lyon leaving the church following their wedding.

• The Wedding: The marriage took place on February 6, 1929, at St Margaret’s, Westminster, and was a notable society and royal-connected event.
• The Groom: David Bowes-Lyon, the fourth son of the Earl and Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne, and the younger brother of Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (later Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother).
• The Bride: Rachel Spender-Clay, the younger daughter of Lt.-Col. Herbert Henry Spender-Clay, M.P., and Pauline Astor, linking her to the prominent Astor family.
• Family: The couple had two children:
  • Davina Katherine Bowes-Lyon (1930–2017): Later became the Countess of Stair.
  • Sir Simon Alexander Bowes-Lyon (born 1932): Served as Lord Lieutenant of Hertfordshire and was President of the Royal Horticultural Society.
• Social Context: As a member of the Bowes-Lyon family, closely connected to the British Royal Family, this wedding attracted considerable attention in society circles of the time.

This is an authentic original page from Country Life magazine, part of the iconic series often affectionately referred to as the “Girls in Pearls” portraits — elegant society images that captured a distinctive era of British publishing and portraiture.

Size: Approximately 13.75 x 9 inches (35 x 23 cm)

Condition: Very good for its age. As with all vintage magazine pages, light signs of handling or minor age-related blemishes may be present. Please review the large photo carefully for full condition details.

This original Country Life Magazine frontispiece portrait forms part of The Old Map Shop’s curated archive of society portraits published between 1897 and 2026.