Queen's playboy cousin the Earl of Strathmore, 35, is freed from jail halfway through 10-month sentence for 20-minute sex attack on guest at Queen Mother's childhood home

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The Queen's playboy cousin, who was jailed for sexually assaulting a woman at the Queen Mother's childhood home, has been released from prison.

Simon Bowes-Lyon, 35, was sentenced to 10 months in prison in February for the late-night attack on a guest staying at Glamis Castle in Angus, his ancestral home.

The Earl of Strathmore, the son of the Queen's cousin, is understood to have been released from HMP Perth last week after serving half his sentence.

The Queen Mother's great-great nephew was sentenced at Dundee Sheriff Court after pleading guilty to the assault, which happened in a bedroom at the castle 12 months earlier in February 2020.

The victim was attending a three-day event at the 16,500-acre estate and had gone to bed when a 'drunk' Bowes-Lyon went to her room at around 1.20am, the court heard.

Simon Bowes-Lyon (pictured in February), 35, was sentenced to 10 months in prison in February for a late-night attack on a guest staying at Glamis Castle in Angus 

The multi-millionaire laird persuaded the woman to open the door before pushing her on the bed and sexually assaulting her in a 20-minute ordeal.

Bowes-Lyon repeatedly grabbed his victim and told her he wanted to have an affair with her - although he is unmarried - during the drink-fuelled assault.

He is said to have tried to pull up her nightdress, and pushed her up against a wall and groped her bottom and genitals.

His victim locked the bedroom door and wedged a chair under the handle to prevent him getting back in and was 'upset and afraid' and 'left shaking', the court heard.

The woman fled the castle in the morning and flew home to immediately report the matter to police. Both Police Scotland and the Metropolitan Police were involved in the investigation.

His victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had undergone 'cognitive behaviour therapy' in the wake of the attack and was still having nightmares more than a year after the incident, the court heard.

A spokesman for the Scottish Prison Service said it did not comment on individual cases.

A spokesman for Strathmore Estates declined to comment. 

The Earl of Strathmore (pictured in February), the son of the Queen's cousin, is understood to have been released from HMP Perth last week after serving half his sentence

In February, the judge imposed an initial sentence of 15 months and reduced it to ten months to recognise the plea of guilty at the first opportunity by Bowes-Lyon.

Sheriff Alistair Carmichael told Bowes-Lyon that the offence was so serious that he had to go to prison because it would send the wrong message to others, ignoring his plea for a suspended sentence.

In a statement outside court after pleading guilty, Bowes-Lyon apologised and said he was 'greatly ashamed of my actions which have caused such distress to a guest in my home'.

He said he had 'drunk to excess' on the night of the attack but acknowledged it was 'no excuse' for his actions.

Bowes-Lyon added: 'I did not think I was capable of behaving the way I did but have had to face up to it and take responsibility.

'This has involved seeking and receiving professional help as well as agreeing to plead guilty as quickly as possible.'

'My apologies go, above all, to the woman concerned but I would also like to apologise to family, friends and colleagues for the distress I have caused them.' 

He is understood to have served half of his sentence at HMP Perth, a jail which had Scotland's only purpose built execution shed before the death penalty was abolished in 1965.

It was named Scotland's most violent prison in 2016 due to the number of serious assaults and brawls. In 2018, the size of cramped cells in two blocks were criticised by inspectors. 

It has been recently renovated and hit the headlines last year as inmates were given the go-ahead to open Scotland's first fine-dining vegan restaurant for the public in the grounds. 

The victim was attending a three-day event at the 16,500-acre estate (pictured) and had gone to bed when a 'drunk' Bowes-Lyon went to her room at around 1.20am, the court heard

But there have also been complaints about the quality and quantity of food for prisoners, whose typical menu is porridge or a fry-up for breakfast, a Scotch Pie and beans for lunch and a pastie and chips for dinner. 

The small cells and the carb-heavy meals were a world away from Bowes-Lyon's life at Glamis, where he lives in one of the UK's most beautiful castles and can roam its 14,000 acre estate freely. 

Parts of the castle are open to the public for private tours and it is well known for its local produce, and famed for delicacies such as the Glamis pheasant and duck burger as well as world-class venison and game.

Bowes-Lyon, whose friends call him Sam instead of The 19th and 6th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne, was styled Lord Glamis until his father's death in 2016. He is a first cousin twice removed of Queen Elizabeth II.

Bowes-Lyon, known for his love of fast cars and holidays with reality TV stars, was named one of the UK's most eligible bachelors by Tatler in 2019. 

His family owns Glamis Castle - the childhood home of the Queen Mother and the home of Macbeth in William Shakespeare's play - and inherited a share of his father's £40million estate.

Pronounced 'Glams', the castle was the beloved childhood home of Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, who died aged 101 in 2002, and the Queen's sister Princess Margaret was born at the castle in 1930 - the first royal baby born in Scotland for more than 300 years. 

MailOnline revealed earlier this year that just weeks after the sex attack, in June 2020, Durham Police contacted the Earl, whose friends call him Sam, for violating the Covid-19 related travel restrictions banning from people leaving home. 

He had travelled 200 miles to England to stay at one of his second properties, a lodge on the family's £20million Holwick estate in Middleton-in-Teesdale, just outside Barnard Castle, where Dominic Cummings went on his notorious lockdown drive to test his eyesight a month earlier. 

In a statement after pleading guilty, Bowes-Lyon (pictured in February) apologised and said he was 'greatly ashamed of my actions which have caused such distress to a guest in my home'

Bowes-Lyon was outed to local detectives when one of his servants was seen as he went to the shops. 'It's the talk of the village,' a local source said at the time. 

'His butler was spotted buying newspapers.' 

The Earl then agreed to return to Glamis Castle in Scotland – the childhood home of the Queen Mother, north of Dundee.

In 2010, he was banned from the road for nine months after he was clocked riding his motorbike at 100 mph on a 60 mph stretch of road.

It was noted in court, as the then 24-year-old was fined £500, that his licence had already accumulated 23 penalty points due to various speeding convictions.

His father, the rambunctious Mikey, was a larger-than-life character who battled alcohol problems, married three times, romped with escorts and was known as the 'head of the Queen's Scottish family'.  

This highly-colourful lifestyle - and a series of scandals - meant the young Lord Glamis, along with his two brothers John 'Jock' Bowes-Lyon, 31, and George 'Geordie' Bowes-Lyon, did not have the most conventional start in life.