Earl of Wessex rather than a duke. His wife Sophie became "The Countess of Wessex". "The Sunday Telegraph" newspaper reported that he was drawn to the historic title of Earl of Wessex after watching the 1998 film "Shakespeare in Love", in which a character with the title 'Lord Wessex' is played by Colin Firth. The current Earl of Wessex is also Viscount Severn. This subsidiary title is used as a courtesy title by the Earl's son and heir to his title, who was born on 17 December 2007. Earl of Wessex Earl of Wessex is a title that has been created three times
Edward Seymour, 1st Earl of Hertford to rely on Sir John Thynne for some financial support. Under Queen Mary he was "restored in blood", but was not given back his title; Queen Elizabeth I created him Earl of Hertford, in the earldom's second creation, in 1559. Between April and May 1605 following the Treaty of London (1604) he was sent on an Embassy by King James I to Albert VII, Archduke of Austria, sovereign of the Spanish Netherlands between 1598 and 1621, at Brussels, to receive his oath of peace. His first wife, Lady Catherine Grey, was a potential claimant to Elizabeth's throne, and law established