William Seymour, 2nd Duke of Somerset was the great-grandson of Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset (c.1500-1552), the uncle of King Edward VI and Lord Protector of England. Seymour made a secret marriage at Greenwich on 22 June 1610 to Arbella Stuart (d.1615), daughter of Charles Stuart, 1st Earl of Lennox and Elizabeth Cavendish. Arbella was thirteen years his senior, and King James I disapproved of the marriage as the union of two potential Tudor pretenders to the throne, who were respectively fourth and sixth in line, could only be seen as a threat to the ruling dynasty. As a result, William was condemned to life
Percy Seymour, 18th Duke of Somerset Percy Seymour, 18th Duke of Somerset Percy Hamilton Seymour, 18th Duke of Somerset (Crowborough, Sussex, 27 September 1910 – 15 November 1984), styled Lord Seymour between 1931 and 1954, of Bradley House in the parish of Maiden Bradley, Wiltshire, was a British peer. He was the son of Evelyn Seymour, 17th Duke of Somerset by his wife Edith Parker, a daughter of William Parker by his wife Lucinda Steeves. He was educated at Blundell's School, Tiverton in Devon, and at Clare College, Cambridge. He was subsequently commissioned into the Wiltshire Regiment. He saw service in India, Persia and Burma. In