Duke of Somerset VIII's third wife Jane Seymour. Henry had him created Viscount Beauchamp of Hache in 1536 and Earl of Hertford in 1537. He became Lord Protector of England at the start of the Minority of his nephew, Edward VI between 1547 and 1549. Edward married twice; he divorced his first wife Catherine Fillol (disowning her and her children) around 1535 and married Anne Stanhope who bore him nine children. In 1547 with Privy Counsel acquiescence he made himself Duke of Somerset. He bought Berry Pomeroy Castle from Sir Thomas Pomeroy, in 1547, although he probably never visited it. Less than two
Mary Seymour, Duchess of Somerset in Wiltshire and Devon. On 11 September 1744, the unexpected death of George Seymour, Viscount Beauchamp (1725–1744), the only son of Algernon Seymour, 7th Duke of Somerset, made Sir Edward the heir presumptive to the dukedom and to the barony of Seymour. On 23 November 1750 the 7th duke died, and Seymour succeeded to the dukedom, his wife then becoming a duchess. The principal Percy family estates and houses of Alnwick Castle, Northumberland House, Petworth House, and Syon House, had been divided between the 7th duke's daughter Elizabeth Percy, Duchess of Northumberland, and his nephew, Charles Wyndham, 2nd Earl of