BOWES LYON Alert Me
Originally printed on November 4, 2023.
Viewed by 2691 Visitors.
Viewed by 2691 Visitors.
BOWES LYON (Hon.) Michael Albemarle (Alby), died on October 30, 2023, aged 83, brother of Fergus (17th Earl of Strathmore), Mary and Patricia, much loved and hugely missed by his family and friends. Private funeral. A celebration of his life will be held at a later date.
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Tributes (2)
Leave your TributeAlby was the dearest man I ever met
Louisa Macmillan
06 November 2023
Alby was the dearest man I ever met. A great friend of my late grandmother's, we became even closer after she died as we frequently went to the opera together. (As my husband is not keen on classical music, I affectionately called Alby "my opera husband", which made him giggle!) His friends will know that he loved the orchestra at ENO best of all but he was always enthusiastic to see any production, no matter how small or unusual. We last saw Rigoletto together at Holland Park over the summer, as he adored Verdi ("the score is just so beautiful" he would say every time). In June 2022, I was beyond honoured to be invited by Alby to be his guest at the Jubilee Concert, and he was very knowledgeable about the pictures in the Queen's Gallery and as bemused as I was by some of the musical acts. I was always amazed by his consistent good humour: on that occasion the music was not even to his taste but we laughed for hours on end, then he simply jumped on the Tube to go home..
To spend time with Alby was a joy and privilege and I am incredibly fortunate to have had a friend like that. And what a life he lived! He seemed to have travelled everywhere and to have learnt so much about humanity, having made friends across the world with ease. We once even watched an England football match together (he was a Scotland supporter, of course) and I was surprised how knowledgeable he was about the game, while his fairness and natural empathy meant that he really could see all sides of any argument in an astonishingly refreshing way.
The news of his death has caused me, and many others, no small amount of sorrow and grief. I will miss him a great deal, yet I am thankful for all the fun we had together, especially in his last years. I hope Alby and my grandmother are together now with a great group of friends enjoying a very fine operatic production (although she might have insisted on Richard Strauss or another German composer) in the great Coliseum in the sky...
Our sympathy
Dundee Courier
03 November 2023
Please accept our condolences at this difficult time.
