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.
Duke of Somerset from England and his estates were seized. At the Restoration his estates were restored, and he claimed the dukedom of Somerset as promised to him by Charles I. However this claim was rejected by the House of Lords and so was the title of Earl of Glamorgan. This enabled King Charles II to grant the Ducal title to the fourth creation family, the Seymours, who descend from the country's effective Regent, the Lord Protector in 1547. Edward Seymour (1538–1621) was son and heir of Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, from his second marriage. He was created the Earl of