Queen's relative jailed for sexually assaulting woman at castle

Will Taylor
Simon Bowes-Lyon, the Earl of Strathmore, arrives at Dundee Sheriff Court ahead of sentencing for sexually assaulting a woman at his ancestral home in February 2020. Bowes-Lyon, 34, admitted to attacking a woman in a bedroom at Glamis Castle in Angus. Picture date: Tuesday February 23, 2021.
Simon Bowes-Lyon admitted committing sexual assault at Glamis Castle last year. (PA) (PA)

A relative of the Queen who sexually assaulted a woman at his ancestral home has been jailed.

Simon Bowes-Lyon, 34, the Earl of Strathmore, assaulted the woman in a bedroom at Glamis Castle, north of Dundee, in February last year.

He was given ten months in prison at Dundee Sheriff's Court on Tuesday.

The son of a cousin of the Queen, Bowes-Lyon said in a statement outside court after previously admitting the offence: “I am greatly ashamed of my actions which have caused such distress to a guest in my home.

"When I realised what I had done I apologised quickly to the woman concerned."

Simon Bowes-Lyon, the Earl of Strathmore, arrives at Dundee Sheriff Court ahead of sentencing for sexually assaulting a woman at his ancestral home in February 2020. Bowes-Lyon, 34, admitted to attacking a woman in a bedroom at Glamis Castle in Angus. Picture date: Tuesday February 23, 2021.
Simon Bowes-Lyon, the Earl of Strathmore, has been sentenced for sexual assault. (PA) (PA)

He added: "Clearly, I had drunk to excess on the night of the incident. As someone who is only too well aware of the damage that alcohol can cause, I should have known better.

"I recognise, in any event, that alcohol is no excuse for my behaviour."

Glamis Castle is the seat of the Earls of Strathmore and Kinghorne, the family which the Queen Mother belonged to.

Dundee Sheriff Court as Simon Bowes-Lyon, the Earl of Strathmore, is due for sentencing for sexually assaulting a woman at his ancestral home in February 2020. Bowes-Lyon, 34, admitted to attacking a woman in a bedroom at Glamis Castle in Angus. Picture date: Tuesday February 23, 2021.
Bowes-Lyon was sentenced at Dundee Sheriff Court on Tuesday. (PA) (PA)

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