Esmé Stewart, 2nd Duke of Richmond

Esmé Stuart, 2nd Duke of Richmond, 5th Duke of Lennox (2 November 1649 – 10 August 1660) was the infant son and heir of James Stewart, 1st Duke of Richmond, 4th Duke of Lennox (1612–1655), of Cobham Hall in Kent, by his wife Mary Villiers (1622–1685), only daughter of George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham.

His father, who had been a loyal supporter of King Charles I during the Civil War, died in 1655, and Esmé and his mother went into exile in France.

He died of smallpox in 1660, aged 10, in Paris, when his titles passed to his first-cousin Charles Stewart, 3rd Duke of Richmond, 6th Duke of Lennox (1638–1672).

He was buried on 4 September 1660[1][2] in Westminster Abbey, in the Richmond Vault[3] in the Henry VII Chapel (that king formerly having been Earl of Richmond) above which survives his simple monument comprising a black obelisk set against a wall and standing on four small skulls, surmounted by an urn containing his heart.

On the plinth is an incised ducal coronet and the letters "ES RL" (for Esme Stuart, Richmond, Lennox).