Anne Seymour, Duchess of Somerset Anne Seymour, Duchess of Somerset Anne Seymour, Duchess of Somerset (née Stanhope) (c.1510 – 16 April 1587) was the second wife of Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset (c.1500–1552), who held the office of Lord Protector during the first part of the reign of his nephew King Edward VI, through whom Anne was briefly the most powerful woman in England. During her husband's time as Lord Protector she claimed precedence over the dowager queen Catherine. Anne Stanhope was likely born in 1510, the only child of Sir Edward Stanhope (1462 – 6 June 1511) by his wife Elizabeth Bourchier (b.
Mary Seymour, Duchess of Somerset Mary Seymour, Duchess of Somerset Mary Seymour, Duchess of Somerset (22 October 1697 – 1 February 1768), formerly Mary Webb, was the wife of Edward Seymour, 8th Duke of Somerset, and the mother of both the 9th and 10th dukes. Mary Webb was born at Seend, Wiltshire, the only child of Daniel Webb, of Monkton Farleigh, and his wife Elizabeth Somner, who was the daughter of John Somner of Seend. She married the duke, then Sir Edward Seymour (6th Baronet Seymour), on 8 March 1716 or 5 March 1717, at Monkton Farleigh. In December 1740, Seymour inherited his father's estates