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,
Charlotte Seymour, Duchess of Somerset Charlotte Seymour, Duchess of Somerset Charlotte Seymour, Duchess of Somerset (c.1693 – 21 January 1773), formerly Lady Charlotte Finch, was the second wife of Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset. Lady Charlotte was the first of twenty-one 'ladies of quality and distinction' who signed Thomas Coram's first petition, presented to King George II in 1735, calling for the establishment of the Foundling Hospital. Lady Charlotte was a daughter of Daniel Finch, 7th Earl of Winchilsea and 2nd Earl of Nottingham, by his second wife, the former Anne Hatton. She married the Duke of Somerset on 4 February 1726, and the