THE Queen Mother's invaluable support for Bowes Museum, so important to its success and survival for more than 50 years, may not have ended with her death.

Elizabeth Conran, curator of the Barnard Castle museum for more than 20 years until she stood down last year, said last night that the Royal connection may carry on.

She said: "There has been a hint that she has thought about a continuity within the family, but we wait to see in the fullness of time what that may be."

The Queen Mother was the great-great-granddaughter of the 11th Earl of Strathmore, whose elder brother was father of museum founder John Bowes.

She first became involved in Bowes Museum when it ran into financial difficulties in about 1950.

She made a donation and her support from that time cannot be underestimated.

When the management of the museum was taken over by Durham County Council, it was the Queen Mother who re-opened it in 1956.

She became patron of the Friends and lent items for a number of exhibitions over the years, including family portraits, dresses and hats.

The Queen Mother made several visits, the last one in 1992, 100 years after her grandfather opened the museum.

Mrs Conran said: "She was remarkably easy to talk to and put you at your ease very quickly and did come back with lots of questions, remarks and little jokes.

"She was really engaged in listening to what we were saying and taking an interest."

The Queen Mother kept in constant touch with the museum, especially during another financial crisis in the late 1990s.

Mrs Conran added: "The museum staff were very grateful and glad for that.

"We all knew that the public loved seeing her things and the museum staff were very keen to keep that interest there. She was always very very supportive.