Lady Dunmore

Lady Charlotte Stewart, Countess of Dunmore, found herself at the heart of the American Founding not as a revolutionary, but as a symbolic figure of the British establishment on the eve of rebellion. As the wife of John Murray, the 4th Earl of Dunmore and the last Royal Governor of Virginia, she arrived in Williamsburg in 1774 to much fanfare, her presence embodying the hope for continued stability and royal authority in the colony. While her role was largely defined by social expectations of the time, hosting gatherings and maintaining the governor's household, her very presence and later departure from Virginia alongside her husband as tensions escalated, served as a poignant indicator of the unraveling ties between Great Britain and its American colonies. Her story offers a glimpse into the opulent, yet increasingly precarious, world of British aristocracy attempting to maintain order amidst the rising tide of revolution.