Duke of Somerset years after losing his position as Lord Protector, his titles were forfeited and he was beheaded on 22 January 1552. He was replaced in the minority government of Edward VI by John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, whose pragmatic style contrasted with Seymour's mixture of idealism and arrogance. In 1644 Charles I granted the earldom of Glamorgan to Edward Somerset (1613–1667). He was a descendant of Charles Somerset, the illegitimate son of Henry Beaufort, 3rd Duke of Somerset. In return for obtaining military help from Ireland he promised Edward the title of Duke of Somerset. Under the Commonwealth Edward was banished
Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset of Hertford (1684–1749) had produced a son of his own, Lord Beauchamp (d.1744), who had predeceased him without progeny, and thus he had only a daughter and sole heiress Lady Elizabeth Seymour, who in 1740 had married Sir Hugh Smithson, 4th Baronet. Before the death of the 6th duke in 1748, it had thus become apparent that the dukedom of Somerset would devolve by law onto an extremely distant cousin and heir male, the 6th duke's 6th cousin Sir Edward Seymour, 6th Baronet (1695–1757) of Berry Pomeroy in Devon and of Maiden Bradley in Wiltshire, who in fact represented the