Frances Seymour, Duchess of Somerset numerous descendants include Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother (and therefore The Queen and all of her blood descendants), Diana, Princess of Wales, and Sarah, Duchess of York. Frances Seymour, Duchess of Somerset Frances Seymour, Duchess of Somerset ("née" Devereux; 30 September 1599 – 24 April 1674), was an English noblewoman who lived during the reigns of Elizabeth I, James I, Charles I and Charles II. Her father was Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, Elizabeth I's favourite who was executed for treason in 1601. She was the second wife of William Seymour, 2nd Duke of Somerset, and the mother of
Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough 20 February 1703. Sarah was heartbroken over the loss of her son and became reclusive for a period, expressing her grief by closing herself off from Anne and either not answering her letters or doing so in a cold and formal manner. However, Sarah did not allow Anne to shut her out when Anne suffered bereavement. After the death of Anne's husband, Prince George of Denmark in 1708, Sarah arrived, uninvited, at Kensington Palace to find Anne with the prince's body. She pressed the heartbroken queen to move from Kensington to St James's Palace in London, which Anne bluntly refused,