Queen’s cousin jailed for sex assault at Glamis Castle is free... to star in high society wedding
HE was freed from jail only six months ago after serving time for a sex assault on a woman at his ancestral home, Glamis Castle.
But the disgrace of Simon Bowes-Lyon, the Earl of Strathmore, appeared to have been forgotten as he was accepted back into society high circles at his younger brother Jock’s wedding.
The 35-year-old earl, a cousin of the Queen, was this week pictured for the first time since his release, at the ceremony at St Mary The Boltons church in South Kensington, London.
Smiling in his morning dress, he looked at ease as he posed for photos with the groom and others outside the church and minBismarck, gled with guests from aristocratic and rock’n’roll dynasties alike.
One onlooker said: ‘Everyone seemed to greet him. Some did fist bumps because of Covid, but they all seemed chatty with him. It was almost as if nothing had happened.’
Georgia May Jagger, the model daughter of Rolling Stone singer Sir Mick, was a maid of honour at the nuptials of Jock and his socialite sweetheart Posy Brinkley on Wednesday.
Inside the church, which dates from 1850, Georgia, 30, gave a joint reading from The Charge Of The Light Brigade by Alfred Lord Tennyson with another guest.
The best man was Tassilo von the younger brother of Count Nikolai von Bismarck, toyboy beau of supermodel Kate Moss. Nikolai was also a guest.
Other guests included another of Sir Mick’s daughters, the designer Jade Jagger, and Ella Richards, the granddaughter of Sir Mick’s Rolling Stones bandmate Keith Richards.
Bowes-Lyon, known as Sam, is a first cousin twice removed of the Queen and a great-great-nephew of the late Queen Mother.
It was in February last year that he was jailed for sexually assaulting a 26-year-old woman at his ancestral home, Glamis Castle.
He persuaded her to open a door before pushing her on to a bed and subjecting her to a drink-fuelled attack that lasted
‘It was almost as if nothing happened’ ‘Aggression and persistence’
for 20 minutes. His ‘force, aggression and persistence’ left the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, suffering from nightmares and needing therapy, a court heard.
He pleaded guilty to the sexual assault which took place in February 2020 at his 16,500-acre estate near Forfar in Angus.
He was jailed for ten months at Dundee Sheriff Court with his name put on the register of sex offenders for ten years.
He had previously issued a public apology to his victim, but Sheriff Alistair Carmichael told him that there was no alternative to custody.
The aristocrat is understood to have been released from prison in August last year after serving half his sentence. A friend, who did not want to be named, said at the time: ‘As far as possible he wants to move on with his life.’