Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset the pride of birth and rank amounted almost to a disease". Charles was the second son of Charles Seymour, 2nd Baron Seymour of Trowbridge (died 1665), of Marlborough Castle in Wiltshire, by his wife Elizabeth Alington (1635–1692). The 2nd baron was (in a junior line) a great-great-grandson of Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset (executed 1552), brother of Queen Jane Seymour, uncle of King Edward VI and Lord Protector of England. Charles was educated at Harrow School and Trinity College, Cambridge, where his portrait by Nathaniel Dance-Holland survives in the College's collection. In 1675, Charles's elder brother Francis Seymour, 5th
Duke of Somerset later, the youngest brother Algernon Percy Banks St. Maur (1813–1894) became the 14th Duke. Three and a half years later he was dead. His son Algernon Seymour (1846–1923) became the 15th Duke. He died without children and the title passed to his distant cousin Edward Hamilton Seymour (1860–1931), great-great-grandson of Lord Francis Seymour, Dean of Wells (1726–1799), youngest son of the 8th Duke. He was succeeded by his son Evelyn Francis Seymour (1882–1954) who passed the title on to his son Percy Hamilton Seymour (1910–1984). The title is currently held by his son John Michael Edward Seymour who was born