William Seymour, 2nd Duke of Somerset was the great-grandson of Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset (c.1500-1552), the uncle of King Edward VI and Lord Protector of England. Seymour made a secret marriage at Greenwich on 22 June 1610 to Arbella Stuart (d.1615), daughter of Charles Stuart, 1st Earl of Lennox and Elizabeth Cavendish. Arbella was thirteen years his senior, and King James I disapproved of the marriage as the union of two potential Tudor pretenders to the throne, who were respectively fourth and sixth in line, could only be seen as a threat to the ruling dynasty. As a result, William was condemned to life
Edward Seymour, 12th Duke of Somerset lifetime, the family titles (except the Earldom of St. Maur, which became extinct) devolved on his younger brother, Archibald Seymour, 13th Duke of Somerset. The 12th Duke left his London residence, Somerset House in Park Lane, to his eldest daughter Lady Hermione Graham. Edward Seymour, 12th Duke of Somerset Edward Adolphus Seymour (later St. Maur), 12th Duke of Somerset, etc., (20 December 1804 – 28 November 1885), styled Lord Seymour until 1855, was a British Whig aristocrat and politician, who served in various cabinet positions in the mid-19th century, including that of First Lord of the Admiralty. Somerset was the