Edward Seymour, Viscount Beauchamp

Edward Seymour
Viscount Beauchamp
Edward Seymour and his mother Catherine Grey
Spouse(s)	Honora Rogers
Issue Edward Seymour, Viscount Beauchamp William Seymour, 2nd Duke of Somerset Francis Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Trowbridge Honora Seymour Anne Seymour Mary Seymour
Noble family	Seymour
Father	Edward Seymour, 1st Earl of Hertford
Mother	Lady Catherine Grey
Born	(1561-09-21)21 September 1561 Tower of London
Died	21 June 1612(1612-06-21) (aged 50)

Edward Seymour, Viscount Beauchamp (21 September 1561 – 21 July 1612) was the son of the 1st Earl of Hertford and the former Lady Catherine Grey, younger sister of Lady Jane Grey. From the dynastic point of view, he was an important English royal claimant; in reality, he was a cipher whose legitimacy was questioned.

Life

Edward Seymour was born in the Tower of London, where his mother had been imprisoned for secretly marrying his father, against the wishes of Queen Elizabeth I. His mother was already pregnant when she entered the Tower, and was given poor living conditions, apparently in the hope that she would either miscarry or die. For many years, her children were regarded as illegitimate because no proof could be produced of her legal marriage.

Regardless of legal problems, by 1603 Edward was the senior qualified heir of Henry VIII's will, stipulating that the elder line of Stuart, through Margaret Tudor, should be passed in favour of the younger line, through Mary Tudor, his favourite, younger, sister. Edward's only possible rival under the will was Anne Stanley, Countess of Castlehaven, who would have been heir if Edward were considered illegitimate. The succession progressed in favour of the elder anyway, placing James VI of Scotland on the English throne. Had the stipulations of the will been carried out, Edward would have become Edward VII of England, and England and Scotland would not have been placed in a personal union. Elizabeth I never officially replaced her father's will, but James succeeded through the support of the English Parliament.

Family

Some time before mid-1582 Edward married Honora Rogers, daughter of Sir Richard Rogers of Bryanston and Cecilia Luttrell. They had six children:

Edward Seymour, Viscount Beauchamp (1586–1618), married Lady Anne Sackville, daughter of the 2nd Earl of Dorset, and died without issue.
William Seymour, Viscount Beauchamp (1588–1660), later 2nd Earl of Hertford eventually regained the Dukedom of Somerset, which Beauchamp's grandfather had held.
Francis Seymour (c. 1590–1664), later ennobled as Baron Seymour of Trowbridge. Grandfather of Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset.
Honora Seymour (bef. 1594–1620), married Sir Ferdinando Sutton, son of the 5th Baron Dudley.
Anne Seymour
Mary Seymour

Both Lord Beauchamp and his eldest son, Edward, predeceased his father, Lord Hertford (d. 1621), and his second son, William, succeeded his grandfather in the Earldom.