Elizabeth Seymour, Duchess of Somerset

Elizabeth Seymour, Duchess of Somerset and suo jure Baroness Percy (26 January 1667 – 23/24 November 1722) However he died the following year and was buried in the parish church at the Percy seat of Petworth. Lord Ogle is remembered mainly for this short-lived marriage. She was only twelve when they married and was widowed a year later; in view of her age, it is unlikely that the marriage was consummated.

Thomas Thynne On 15 November 1681, at the age of fourteen, she married Thomas Thynne (died 1682) of Longleat, Wiltshire, known due to his great income as "Tom of Ten Thousand", a relative of Thomas Thynne, 1st Viscount Weymouth. He was murdered the following February in Pall Mall by three men, allegedly on the order of Swedish Count Karl Johann von Königsmark,

Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset Arms of Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset: Seymour, Duke of Somerset, with inescutcheon of pretence of Percy, of three quarters: 1st: Or, a lion rampant azure (Percy modern/Brabant); 2nd: Gules, three lucies hauriant argent (de Lucy); 3rd: Azure, five fusils conjoined in fess or (Percy ancient). Marshalling as shown sculpted on overmantel of the Marble Hall, Petworth House At the age of fifteen, five months after the death of Thomas Thynne, Elizabeth married, on 30 May 1682, the 20-year-old Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset, of Marlborough Castle in Wiltshire, and so became Duchess of Somerset. Soon after the marriage, he rebuilt in palatial style her father's principal seat Petworth House in Sussex. The marriage is said to have been unhappy: while she brought the Duke great wealth, it was said that she received neither affection nor gratitude in return. By the Duke she had the following children:

Charles Somerset, Earl of Hereford (baptized 22 March 1683 – died before 26 Aug 1683), who died in infancy. Algernon Seymour, 7th Duke of Somerset (11 November 1684 – 7 February 1750), eldest surviving son and heir. His only daughter and sole heiress, Lady Elizabeth Seymour, suo jure Baroness Percy, together with her husband Sir Hugh Smithson, 4th Baronet (died 1786) (who in 1749 adopted the surname Percy and in 1766 was created Duke of Northumberland), inherited half the great Percy estates, including Alnwick Castle and Syon House. Percy Seymour, died unmarried. Lady Elizabeth Seymour (1685–2 April 1734), wife of Henry O'Brien, 8th Earl of Thomond (1688–1741), childless. His chosen heir was her younger nephew, Percy Wyndham-O'Brien, 1st Earl of Thomond (c. 1713 – 1774), of Shortgrove, Essex, who adopted the surname O'Brien and was elevated to the peerage. Lady Catherine Seymour (1693 – 9 April 1731), wife of Sir William Wyndham, 3rd Baronet (c. 1688 – 1740) of Orchard Wyndham in Somerset. Her eldest son was Charles Wyndham, 2nd Earl of Egremont (1710–1763), who inherited half of the great Percy estates including Petworth House and Egremont Castle. Lady Anne Seymour (1709 – 27 November 1722), died young. Lady Frances Seymour, died unmarried.

Court career and political influence

The Duke and Duchess were among Queen Anne's oldest friends; she had come to live at Syon House with them in 1692 after a heated quarrel with William III and Mary. She served as Groom of the Stole and First Lady of the Bedchamber.

Like Marlborough before him, Somerset used his wife's position as royal confidante to advance his career. Both of them became the target of violent verbal attacks, especially from Jonathan Swift, who hoped to influence the Queen through Mrs Abigail Masham, Elizabeth's obvious rival for the position of confidante. Apparently against Masham's wishes he published a scathing diatribe, The Windsor Prophecy, against the Duchess in which her character is derided as "Carrots" (a common nickname derived from the Duchess' red hair). Swift explicitly accused the Duchess of having conspired to murder her second husband, and wildly suggested that she might poison the Queen "I have been told, they assassin when young and poison when old".