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.
Edward Seymour, 16th Duke of Somerset Depot, with the temporary rank of lieutenant-colonel (ordnance officer, 2nd class) from 4 January 1900. He eventually became Inspector of Army Ordnance Services, and retired from the army in 1918. Seymour established his claim to the dukedom in 1925, the 15th Duke of Somerset having died without issue in 1923. He was the great-great-grandson of the Very Reverend Lord Francis Seymour, fourth and youngest son of the 8th Duke. On 28 July 1881, Seymour married Rowena Wall, a daughter of George Wall, of Colombo, Ceylon. Together, they had one son: Evelyn Seymour, 17th Duke of Somerset, born on 1 May