Henry Herbert, 2nd Earl of Pembroke

Henry Herbert, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, KG, KB (19 January 1601) was an English peer and politician. He was the nephew of Catherine Parr and brother-in-law of Lady Jane Grey through his first wife. During Elizabeth I's reign, he held administrative positions in Wales. Politically, he was associated with Robert Dudley.

Life

He was the son of William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke, and Anne Parr. His aunt was Queen Consort Katherine Parr, last wife of King Henry VIII. His uncle was William Parr, 1st Marquess of Northampton, who was an influential man during the reigns of Edward VI and Elizabeth I. Herbert was responsible for the costly restoration of Cardiff Castle. Pembroke, like other members of his family, was a man of culture. He was a special patron of antiquaries and heralds and collected heraldic manuscripts. and became at about the same time Vice-Admiral of South Wales. From thenceforth, he spent much time at Ludlow Castle, the official residence of the president of Wales where he actively discharged the duties of his office. in a political match arranged by their parents in the hopes of assisting the Duke of Northumberland with his plan to secure the succession of Jane who on the same day alongside her sister married the Duke's younger son, Lord Guildford Dudley. The union was never consummated, and in 1554, Queen Mary I's influence led to the consent of Herbert's father's dissolution of the marriage. Katherine and Francis were children of George Talbot, 6th Earl of Shrewsbury, and his wife Lady Gertrude Manners, daughter of Thomas Manners, 1st Earl of Rutland. Queen Elizabeth I was extremely fond of Lady Katherine and when Katherine developed a fatal illness she often visited her at Baynard's Castle.

Legacy The armour of Henry Herbert is now on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in the Arms and Armor galleries. It was made in 1580 at the Greenwich armoury, a royal workshop founded by Henry VIII to produce armour for the English nobility, chiefly Henry, without having to commission it from overseas. His portrait, and that of his father William, are on display at the National Museum Wales in Cardiff, adjacent to Cardiff Castle which the family owned and occupied for much of the 16th century.