Henrietta Murray, Viscountess of Stormont
The Viscountess of Stormont | |
|---|---|
 1759 portrait of Lady Stormont by Marcello Bacciarelli | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Henrietta Friederika Reichsgräfin von Bünau 1737 |
| Died | 16 March 1766 Vienna, Austria, Holy Roman Empire |
| Spouse | David Murray, 7th Viscount Stormont |
| Children | Lady Elizabeth Finch-Hatton The Hon. Henrietta Anne Murray |
| Parent | Count Heinrich von Bünau |
Henrietta Friederika Murray, Viscountess of Stormont (née Countess Henrietta Friederika von Bünau; 1737–1766) was a German salonnière. Born into a noble family of imperial comital rank, she later married the British ambassador David Murray, 7th Viscount Stormont after the pair fell in love in Dresden. She accompanied her husband to his diplomatic post at the Habsburg court in Vienna, where she held salons and used her family connections to secure their position in society. Her health declined rapidly and she died in Vienna at the age of twenty-nine. Her husband had her heart embalmed in a gold vase and taken to Scone Palace in Scotland.
Biography
[edit]She was the daughter of Imperial Count Heinrich von Bünau. She married a Danish nobleman by the name of de Beragaard, but was left widowed young. Her first husband left her his entire fortune and three Danish estates.
Von Bünau met David Murray, 7th Viscount Stormont, a British diplomat, in Dresden.[1] They married in Warsaw in 1759. The marriage was considered one of love, and unexpected, as Lord Stormont was assumed to marry from within the British peerage. Following her second marriage, she sold her estates in Denmark in 1760. That same year, she gave birth to a daughter, Eliza.
Von Bünau's husband was appointed as the British Ambassador to Austria in 1763 at the court of Empress Maria Theresa. Her status, as an Austrian imperial countess by birth, helped the couple find acceptance in Viennese high society.[2][3] Von Bünau's father had served as an imperial diplomat, and through those connections she was able to host successful salons in the Austrian capital. Her charm and influence secured a connection for her husband with Wenzel Anton, Prince of Kaunitz-Rietberg, one of the most powerful State Chancellors and a close advisor to Empress Maria Theresa.[2]
While in Vienna, she gave birth to a second daughter, Henrietta Anne, who died in infancy.
Von Bünau's health was fragile, and she died in Vienna on 16 March 1766, at the age of 29. Following her death, her husband had a nervous breakdown and was granted extended leave of absence from his post at court. Her heart was embalmed in a gold vase and taken to Scone Palace.[4][3]
References
[edit]- ^ Stamp, Agnes (2013-06-10). "Scone Palace: The Seat of the Earl of Mansfield and Mansfield, part 1 by John Cornforth". Country Life. Retrieved 2023-01-08.
- ^ a b Hewlings, Richard (2013-01-01). "The Dairy at Kenwood". English Heritage Historical Review. 8 (1): 36–81. doi:10.1179/1752016914Z.00000000023. ISSN 1752-0169.
- ^ a b Scott, Hamish. "The Rise of the House of Mansfield: Scottish Service Nobility in the emerging British State" (PDF). The Rise of the House of Mansfield. pp. 134–136.
- ^ "Slavery and Justice at Kenwood House Part 1" (PDF). English Heritage. Retrieved 16 June 2014.