Anne Stanhope

Anne Stanhope
Duchess of Somerset Countess of Hertford Viscountess Beauchamp
Anne Seymour, Duchess of Somerset in a 19th century engraving
Spouse(s)	Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset Francis Newdigate
Issue Edward Seymour Edward Seymour, 1st Earl of Hertford Anne Dudley, Countess of Warwick Lady Jane Seymour Mary Seymour Elizabeth Seymour Lord Henry Seymour
Father	Sir Edward Stanhope
Mother	Elizabeth Bourchier
Born	c. 1497
Died	16 April 1587 Hanworth Palace, Middlesex
Buried	Westminster Abbey, London

Anne Seymour, Duchess of Somerset (née Stanhope) (c.1497 – 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 born in 1497 the only child of Sir Edward Stanhope (1462 – 6 June 1511) by his wife Elizabeth Bourchier (b. before 1473, d. 1557), a daughter of Fulk Bourchier, 10th Baron FitzWarin (1445-1479). By her father's first marriage to Adelina Clifton she had two half-brothers, Richard Stanhope (died 1529) and Sir Michael Stanhope. After the death of Sir Edward Stanhope in 1511, his widow, Elizabeth, married Sir Richard Page of Beechwood, Hertfordshire.

Her paternal grandparents were Thomas Stanhope, esquire, of Shelford and Margaret (or Mary) Jerningham, and her maternal grandparents were Fulke Bourchier, 2nd Baron Fitzwaryn and Elizabeth Dynham. Through her mother, Anne was a descendant of , the youngest son of King Edward III of England and Philippa of Hainault.

Anne's snobbery and pride were considered to be intolerable, yet she was highly intelligent and determined. Antonio de Guaras, a Spanish merchant living in London, would later say of her, that she was "more presumptuous than Lucifer".

Anne Stanhope married Sir Edward Seymour sometime before 9 March 1535. Seymour's first marriage, to Catherine Fillol, had possibly been annulled, but his first wife was probably dead by then. Edward Seymour was the eldest brother of Jane Seymour, the third wife of Henry VIII. Shortly after the king's marriage to Jane in June 1536, Edward Seymour was elevated to the peerage as Viscount Beauchamp. In October 1537, after the birth of his royal nephew Edward, he was created Earl of Hertford. In 1547, he became a duke, so Anne became the Duchess of Somerset.