In 1616, a young Powhatan woman arrived in London, wrapped in the furs and silks of an unfamiliar world, her every movement watched by a fascinated and occasionally skeptical English public. Her name was Amonute, known more commonly as Pocahontas—a name that had already become legend in the Virginia colony. Her journey to England was part diplomacy, part propaganda, and part an extraordinary personal odyssey. Her time in London would be brief, but it would make a lasting impression, both on those who met her and on the mythos that would surround her name for centuries to come.
The Making of an English Lady
By the time she set foot in England, Pocahontas was no longer just the playful daughter of Wahunsenacawh, the powerful leader of the Powhatan Confederacy. She was now Lady Rebecca Rolfe, the Christian wife of tobacco planter John Rolfe and the mother of their young son, Thomas. Her arrival was orchestrated by the Virginia Company, the organisation responsible for colonising Virginia, as a way to promote their success in the New World. What better way to convince investors to pour more money into the colony than by showcasing a ‘tamed’ native woman who had converted to Christianity and married an Englishman?
Pocahontas was given a thorough English makeover. She had already been baptised, rechristened as Rebecca, and dressed in fine Jacobean garments. Accounts suggest she carried herself with dignity and grace, impressing those who met her. She wasn’t some exotic curiosity to be gawked at—she was a woman of rank and intelligence, moving in the highest social circles.
A Royal Audience
One of the great milestones of Pocahontas’s time in London was her introduction to King James I and Queen Anne at the Banqueting House in Whitehall. This was no small feat. King James, notoriously obsessed with royal protocol, did not meet just anyone. Yet here was Pocahontas, an Indigenous woman from across the ocean, standing before the monarch of England.
The irony, of course, was that John Rolfe was nervous about whether Pocahontas would be treated as nobility, but by English standards, she outranked him. As the daughter of a paramount chief, she was akin to a princess, and thus more befitting of an audience with royalty than her commoner husband.
The royal court was intrigued by her presence, though their interest likely had less to do with admiration and more to do with the novelty of encountering a ‘civilised savage’—a living testament to England’s colonial ambitions.
Life in London
Pocahontas spent her time in and around London, staying for a while in Brentford, just west of the city. She was accompanied by several other Powhatan people, including a high-ranking advisor named Uttamatomakkin, who had been sent by Wahunsenacawh to observe the English and report back. One of his tasks was to count the number of Englishmen—a job he abandoned upon realising the sheer size of the population.
Pocahontas attended plays, visited the sights, and was entertained by the aristocracy. She was painted by court artist Simon de Passe, and his engraving of her became the most famous image of her in England, depicting her in stiff English attire, looking every bit the Jacobean noblewoman. It’s hard to say how she felt about this transformation—was she truly at ease, or was she simply playing the role assigned to her?
A Familiar Face in an Unfamiliar World
One of the more intriguing moments of Pocahontas’s London stay was her encounter with Captain John Smith, the Englishman who had once been a guest (or perhaps captive) of her father’s people. Smith had left Virginia under dramatic circumstances, and Pocahontas had been told he was dead. When she learned he was very much alive, she was furious.
Their meeting was tense. Pocahontas reportedly rebuked him for failing to keep in contact and for his treatment of her father’s people. Smith, who had once referred to her as a friend and saviour, seemed taken aback. He later wrote about their encounter with a mix of admiration and guilt, though as with much of Smith’s writing, it’s difficult to know how much was fact and how much was self-aggrandising embellishment.
The Final Chapter: Gravesend
As the winter of 1616 turned to 1617, Pocahontas and her family prepared to return to Virginia. However, just as their ship set sail down the Thames, she became gravely ill. The cause of her sickness remains unknown—speculations include tuberculosis, pneumonia, dysentery, or even poisoning.
She was taken ashore in Gravesend, where she died in March 1617, aged around 21. She was buried at St. George’s Church in the town, far from the forests of her homeland. John Rolfe returned to Virginia with their son, Thomas, who would later grow up to become an important figure in the colony’s history.
Can You Visit Her Grave?
Although Pocahontas was buried at St. George’s Church in Gravesend, her exact grave is no longer accessible. The original church was destroyed in a fire in 1727, and her burial site was lost during reconstruction. However, visitors can still visit St. George’s Church and its grounds, where a memorial statue of Pocahontas stands. The site remains a place of historical significance, attracting those who wish to pay their respects to one of history’s most fascinating figures.
Legacy and Myth
Pocahontas’s time in London was brief but significant. In England, she was a symbol—a living testament to the ‘success’ of English civilisation in the New World. But the real Pocahontas was far more than a colonial showpiece. She was a woman who had navigated two vastly different cultures, whose life was shaped by both diplomacy and coercion, and whose legend would far outgrow the reality of her short and complex existence.
Her story would later be romanticised beyond recognition, most famously by Disney’s 1995 animated film, which bears little resemblance to actual history. The real Pocahontas was neither a lovesick teenager nor merely a passive figure caught between two worlds. She was a woman of intelligence and agency, whose life remains one of the most fascinating and poignant stories of early colonial history.
And so, she remains in Gravesend, far from the lands of Tsenacommacah, but never forgotten. Her time in London may have been short, but the impact of her presence—and the questions her story raises—continue to echo through history.
Leave a Reply