Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset appeared to back the common people against a rapacious landowning class. In the early 20th century this line was taken by the influential A. F. Pollard, to be echoed by Edward VI's 1960s biographer W. K. Jordan. A more critical approach was initiated by M. L. Bush and Dale Hoak in the mid-1970s. Since then, Somerset has often been portrayed as an arrogant ruler, devoid of the political and administrative skills necessary for governing the Tudor state. Edward Seymour married twice: The male line of Edward Seymour and Anne Stanhope died out with the seventh Duke of Somerset in 1750,
Georgiana Seymour, Duchess of Somerset Georgiana Seymour, Duchess of Somerset Jane Georgiana Seymour, Duchess of Somerset (née Sheridan; 5 November 1809 – 14 December 1884), was the wife of Edward, Duke of Somerset. Jane Georgiana Sheridan was the third daughter of Thomas Sheridan and his wife the novelist Caroline Callander, daughter of Sir James Callander of Craigforth and Ardkinglas. She was the younger sister of Helen Lady Dufferin, songwriter, composer, poet, and author, and Caroline Norton, society beauty, feminist, social reformer, and author. Georgiana, Helen, and Caroline were the granddaughters of Irish playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan. Known for her loveliness, the Duchess was chosen to