David Murray, 2nd Earl of Mansfield

Then Stormont was appointed British Ambassador to Austria in 1763 to 1772 at the court of Empress Maria Theresa. Stormont's wife, who was a German-Saxon noblewoman by birth helped him be accepted by the high society of Vienna. She was a woman of enormous charm, this made up for the reserved manner of her husband, this made the embassy to Vienna a huge success.

His wife's health was always fragile, Horace Walpole described her as such a Semele. In 1766, Henrietta suddenly passed away in Vienna at the age of only 29. Her death caused Stormont to have a nervous breakdown and was given extended leave of absence, he even embalmed her heart in a gold vase and carried it everywhere he went (later taken to Scone). They had one surviving daughter Lady Elizabeth Murray, who was eventually brought up by his uncle and his wife at Kenwood.[2]

His friend a fellow diplomat, Sir William Hamilton said to his niece Mary Hamilton, that if it wasn't for his help to get him out of his depression and recovered in Rome, he believed that Stormont might have gone mad, he said that the countess had an elegant mind. Stormont didn't return to his post for two years and remained unmarried for a decade.[2]

The great antiquarian Winckelmann (whom he met in Rome in 1768), had worked as librarian to Stormont's father in-law (Count von Bünau). He remarked that Stormont was "the most learned man of his rank whom I have yet known ".[3]

After his return from Rome, the final four years in Vienna were dominated by the Russo-Turkish War which began in 1768, He protested unofficially about the partitioning of Poland, but the partition was finalised in 1772.[2]

By now Stormont had become a leading British diplomat, this followed by ambassador to Paris from 1772 to March 1778.[3] In France, he met Queen Marie Antoinette, whom he had acquainted back when she was a little archduchess in the court of her mother in Vienna years prior, The Queen of France was very pleased to be greeted by a friendly face and befriended The Viscount, to commemorate their friendship, she gifted him one of three Jean Henri Riesener writing desks previously commissioned to mark her marriage.[4] Marie Antoinette nicknamed him "le bel Anglais" meaning the beautiful English.[5]

In 1774, his uncle the first Earl stayed at the Embassy and Lord Stormont presented his uncle to Louis XVI and Marie Antionette at Versailles.[3]He remarried after a decade to a much younger Louisa Cathcart.

In 1778, France declared support for the American revolution against Britain. The ambassadors to both countries were recalled and Stormont returned to England.

Kenwood House, Hampstead Heath, London. (South facade)

During the Gordon riots of 1780, his uncle Lord Mansfield's Bloomsbury Square townhouse was burned to the ground. It was reported that His daughter Lady Elizabeth, Lord and Lady Mansfield had escaped using the back door. Her Ladyship's clothes was burn alongside Mansfield's book collection.[7]

But it was rumored that sixty angry mobs also targeted Kenwood House next, given its close proximity to London. Stormont wrote to King George III that he had ordered light cavalry to be dispatched to Kenwood. The rioters approached Kenwood with hostile intentions, but were stalled by free ale from the nearby Spaniard’s Inn, assisted by Lord Mansfield’s steward using wine supply from the house, they successfully stalled the mobs until the cavalry arrived to protect the house. [7]

He knew not only that Kenwood house would one day be his, but also his own daughter and sisters were in dire danger, as they still remained at Kenwood. Stormont successfully saved Kenwood from burning and looting.[7]

Countess Henrietta Frederica and Lord Stormont's memorial at Scone Palace. (the inscription was added right at the base of the vase)

Lord Mansfield died in September 1796 at Brighton. In his will he had requested a simple burial wherever he passed away and his heart removed and taken to Scone to be reunited with that of his first wife, he also requested adding latin inscriptions of "Mutuique amoris perpetuo memor, Nunc demum addit suum" meaning "Remembering each other's love forever and now, at last, he adds his own" to their memorial at Scone Palace.

But, instead his body was laid to rest with his uncle, the 1st Earl, at Westminster Abbey with a lot of processions fit for such prominent figure.[9] His heart was interred in Comlongon Castle. He left his eldest daughter three paintings of her mother Henrietta that still hung in his dressing room.

He was succeeded in his titles and to Kenwood House by his eldest son David William Murray. His second son, the Honourable George Murray, became a Lieutenant-General in the Army. His fourth son, the Honourable Sir Henry Murray, rose to the rank of General.

The Countess of Mansfield survived her husband by 47 years. She went on to remarry to her first cousin the Hon. Robert Fulke Greville in 1797. Lady Mansfield died in July 1843, aged 85.