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.
Mary Seymour, Duchess of Somerset Egremont. Their children were: The duchess was a patron of several charities. The duke died in December 1757, and was buried at Maiden Bradley. The duchess then expanded the Seend Green House (later Seend Park), which had belonged to her grandfather, John Somner. She died on 1 February 1768, aged 70, and was buried at Seend. Her will is held in the National Archives at Kew. Mary Seymour, Duchess of Somerset Mary Seymour, Duchess of Somerset (22 October 1697 – 1 February 1768), formerly Mary Webb, was the wife of Edward Seymour, 8th Duke of Somerset, and the mother of