The American Countess meets the English Countess

Spilling the tea on the surrender that made America.

Hello friends,

I have something rather special for you.

On Sunday 2 August, I am sitting down, live on Zoom, with the Countess of Derby, for a conversation I have been longing to have. Two countesses, one American and one English, having a proper natter about the moment our nations went their separate ways. Call it Countesses in Conversation, and yes, we fully intend to spill the tea.

Here is what makes it so very exciting. Lady Derby is not telling this story from the outside. She is a direct descendant of General Charles Cornwallis, the British commander whose surrender at Yorktown marked the turning point of the American Revolution. History remembers him as the coward who failed to attend his own defeat. The truth, as ever, is far more interesting. A man who once sympathised with the colonists, who opposed the Stamp Act, and who, in a quiet tent, speaking fluent French, may have begun a tradition of the peaceful transfer of power that still echoes in the Oval Office today.

As we mark America’s 250th year, I can think of no better moment to look back at how it all began. Not as a tale of defeat and division, but of diplomacy and reinvention.

Do join us, and it is free. Simply sign up through my Patreon, Countess of Sandwich Society, and I will send you the link. Open to all Mapperton Live! and American Countess patrons, both paid and free.

• Sunday 2 August

• 6PM UK / 1PM ET / 10AM PT

• Live on Zoom

• Free, with sign-up via Patreon

See you on the 2nd of August!

xxJulie