Henry Howard, 7th Duke of Norfolk
| The Duke of Norfolk | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Spouse(s) | Mary Mordaunt |
| Noble family | House of Howard |
| Father | Henry Howard, 6th Duke of Norfolk |
| Mother | Anne Somerset |
| Born | 11 January 1655 |
| Died | 2 April 1701 (aged 46) |
Henry Howard, 7th Duke of Norfolk, KG PC Earl Marshal (11 January 1655 – 2 April 1701) was a politician and soldier. He was the son of Henry Howard, 6th Duke of Norfolk and Lady Anne Somerset, daughter of Edward Somerset, 2nd Marquess of Worcester and Elizabeth Dormer. He was summoned to the House of Lords in his own right as Baron Mowbray in 1678.
He married Mary Mordaunt, the only daughter and heiress of the 2nd Earl of Peterborough. They divorced in 1700 and he died without children. He was succeeded by his nephew, Thomas Howard, 8th Duke of Norfolk.
He was rarely on good terms with his father, particularly after 1677 when his father married Jane Bickerton, his mistress of many years standing , an act which caused a violent family quarrel.
Like almost all the Howards of Norfolk he was a devout Roman Catholic; but during the anti-Catholic hysteria engendered by the Popish Plot he publicly conformed to the Church of England. There is little doubt that this was simply a device to save the family estates, which seems to have succeeded; although his father was charged with recusancy in 1680, the charge did not proceed. While the senior Howard line survived unscathed, their cousin William Howard, 1st Viscount Stafford, was executed for his supposed part in the Plot in December 1680. Henry as Baron Mowbray sat as one of the peers who tried him. It is a sign of his moral courage and independent judgment, given the anti-Catholic feeling in the country, that he voted Not Guilty; this was the more notable since according to John Evelyn, of all Stafford's extended family in the House of Lords, (eight of them in all), he was the only one to do so, Stafford being a man "not beloved by his family".
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