Born at Clonea Castle in Dungarvan, County Waterford, Bowen was educated at Mount Anville Secondary School, and Trinty College Dublin.
She became active in the Conservative Party, and at the 1955 United Kingdom general election stood unsuccessfully in West Ham North.
Faced with this disappointing result, she moved to the United States to work for the Washington Post,[2] travelling 40,000 miles around the world in one six-month period.
[3] She began working for The Tatler, but remained active in the Conservatives, and in 1968 wrote "The Fullest Rights", a pamphlet about the history of women in the party.
[2] Bowen died in Dorking, England at the age of 74 due to complications from a blood disorder.