Caroline Stuart, Countess of Seafield

Caroline Stuart, Countess of Seafield (30 June 1830 – 6 October 1911), styled The Countess Dowager from 1884 to 1911, was a member of the Scottish aristocracy. She was proprietor of the Seafield Estates following the death of her son in 1884 and has been described as 'The last of the great feudal chiefs'.

The Honourable Caroline Henrietta Stuart was the youngest child of Robert Walter, 11th Lord Blantyre, of the family of the Stuarts of Minto. Aged 20, on 12 August 1850 she married John Charles Ogilvy-Grant who, then styled Lord Reidhaven and Master of Grant, was heir to the Seafield and Findlater estates. Their only child, Ian Charles was born 7 October 1851. On 30 July 1853 John Charles succeeded his father as Earl of Seafield and Chief of the Clan Grant. Her husband and son were to die within a few years of each other: Lord Seafield on 18 February 1881 and Ian Charles on 31 March 1884.

As he was unmarried and had no children, by a will made c.1882 Ian Charles left his mother as the heir to his estates. Taking the style of The Countess Dowager, Lady Seafield was proprietor of the Seafield and Grant Estates until her death. Meanwhile the 8th Earl's titles of honour were inherited by his uncle, James Ogilvy-Grant, 9th Earl of Seafield who was otherwise the nearest male heir. The Seafield title was thus for some generations separated from the lands and properties that had maintained it. This situation had been made possible because the 7th Earl, John Charles, had completed the legal procedure of disentailing the estate. Lady Seafield died in 1911. Her coffin rests, with those of her husband and son, in the Seafield Mausoleum in the Duthil Old Parish Church and Churchyard.

In the section 'Public and Social Work' in the tribute volume published after her death, the editors highlighted Lady Seafield's support for her husband's direction of his estates. Mention was made of her interest in his patronage of individuals via appointments in the established church and through educational bursaries, for his programme of afforestation and: 'in general improvements effected throughout the estate, his lordship had always the affectionate advice and warm interest of the Countess'. She was, though, primarily a social hostess:

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