Henrietta Murray, Viscountess of Stormont explained

Honorific Prefix:The Right Honourable
The Viscountess of Stormont
Birth Name:Henrietta Friederika Reichsgräfin von Bünau
Birth Date:1737
Death Date:16 March 1766
Death Place:Vienna, Austria,
Holy Roman Empire
Spouse:David Murray, 7th Viscount Stormont
Children:Lady Elizabeth Finch-Hatton
The Hon. Henrietta Anne Murray
Parents: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

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]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Stamp . Agnes . 2013-06-10 . Scone Palace: The Seat of the Earl of Mansfield and Mansfield, part 1 by John Cornforth . 2023-01-08 . Country Life . en.
  2. Hewlings . Richard . 2013-01-01 . The Dairy at Kenwood . English Heritage Historical Review . 8 . 1 . 36–81 . 10.1179/1752016914Z.00000000023 . 1752-0169.
  3. News: Scott . Hamish . The Rise of the House of Mansfield: Scottish Service Nobility in the emerging British State . 134–136 . The Rise of the House of Mansfield .
  4. Web site: Slavery and Justice at Kenwood House Part 1 . 16 June 2014 . English Heritage.