Anne Parr, Countess of Pembroke

Anne Parr
Baroness Herbert of Cardiff Countess of Pembroke
A portrait thought to be of Anne Parr drawn by Hans Holbein the Younger
Spouse(s)	William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke
Issue Henry Herbert, 2nd Earl of Pembroke Sir Edward Herbert Lady Anne Herbert
Father	Sir Thomas Parr
Mother	Maud Green
Born	15 June 1515 London, England
Died	20 February 1552 (aged 36) Baynard's Castle, London, England
Buried	St Paul's Cathedral, City of London

Anne Herbert, Countess of Pembroke, Baroness Herbert of Cardiff (15 June 1515 – 20 February 1552) was lady-in-waiting to each of Henry VIII of England's six wives. She was the younger sister of his sixth wife, Catherine Parr.

Anne was born on 15 June 1515 to Sir Thomas Parr and Maud Green. She was the youngest surviving child of five, having an older sister Catherine and brother William Parr, 1st Marquess of Northampton. In 1517, when she was two years old, her father died of the sweating sickness leaving her mother a widow at twenty-five, pregnant, and with the grave responsibility of guarding the inheritance of the Parr children. Maud Green was a lady-in-waiting and confidant to Queen Catherine of Aragon. She was also head of the Royal school at court where Anne was educated alongside her sister Catherine and other daughters of the nobility. They were taught by the brilliant Humanist scholar Joan Lluís Vives who was the principal tutor at the Royal school. Anne would have been taught French, Latin, philosophy, theology, and the Classics. Maud Green had already taught her children to read and write when they were small. Anne herself later said that her education at home was based on the approach used in the family of Sir Thomas More where boys and girls were educated together; as was the case with the Parrs until her brother left home in 1525 to join the household of Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Richmond.

Sometime in 1528, Maud Green secured her 13-year-old daughter, Anne, a post at Court as maid-of-honour to Queen Catherine of Aragon. Anne was then made a ward of King Henry. When Anne Boleyn was crowned queen in 1533, Anne Parr continued in the same capacity as maid-of-honour. She quickly succumbed to the spell of Queen Anne's charismatic personality and following the Queen's example, she became an ardent supporter of the New Faith. After Anne Boleyn's fall from power and subsequent execution, Anne remained at Court in the service of the new queen, Jane Seymour. Anne Parr served all of Henry VIII's queens from the mid-1530s, and is one of the few women to have been lady-in-waiting to all six. She was one of the few present at the baptism of Prince Edward on 15 October 1537 and was part of the funeral cortege of Jane Seymour.