Elizabeth Seymour, Duchess of Somerset

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Her Grace

The Duchess of Somerset
Lady Elizabeth Percy (Duchess of Somerset), painted in 1713 by Godfrey Kneller (1646/9-1723); collection of Petworth House
BornLady Elizabeth Percy
(1667-01-26)26 January 1667
Petworth House, Sussex, England
Died23/24 November 1722(1722-11-00) (aged 55)[1]
Northumberland House, London, England
Noble familyPercy (birth)
Seymour (by marriage)
Spouse(s)
Henry Cavendish, Earl of Ogle
​
​
(m. 1679; died 1680)​
​
​
(m. 1681; died 1682)​
​
​
(m. 1682)​
Issue
Parents
  • Joceline Percy, 11th Earl of Northumberland
  • Elizabeth Wriothesley
OccupationMistress of the Robes to Anne, Queen of Great Britain
Lady Elizabeth Percy, Lady Ogle by George Perfect Harding

Elizabeth Seymour, Duchess of Somerset and suo jure Baroness Percy (26 January 1667 – 23/24 November 1722)[1] was an English courtier.

She was styled Lady Elizabeth Percy between 1667 and 1679, Countess of Ogle between 1679 and 1681, Lady Elizabeth Thynne between 1681 and 1682, and Duchess of Somerset between 1682 and 1722. She was the only surviving child and sole heiress of

Joceline Percy, 11th Earl of Northumberland (1644–1670). Lady Elizabeth was one of the closest personal friends of Queen Anne, which led Jonathan Swift
to direct at her one of his sharpest satires, The Windsor Prophecy, in which she was called "Carrots".

Marriages and children

She married three times, having children by the third marriage only:

Henry Cavendish, Earl of Ogle

Aged 12, she married, on 27 March 1679, the 20-year-old

marriage settlement adopted the surname of Percy in lieu of his patronymic.[2] However he died the following year and was buried in the parish church at the Percy seat of Petworth. Henry, Earl of 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.[3]

Thomas Thynne

On 15 November 1681, at the age of fourteen, she married

hanged, but Königsmark was acquitted of being an accessory to the crime, despite widespread public feeling against him. There were no children from this marriage.[citation needed
]

Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset

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[4]

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:

Court career and political influence

Elizabeth Seymour circa 1710

The Duke and Duchess were among Queen Anne's oldest friends; she had come to live at

Groom of the Stole and First Lady of the Bedchamber.[6]

Like

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".[3]

The Queen was outraged; from then on, she refused to consider Swift for preferment to a

Dean of St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, was made against her strongly expressed wishes (she did not have the power to veto it). Ignoring the gossip, she insisted on retaining the Duchess in her household. The Duke's pride and arrogance eventually wore out the Queen's patience and he was dismissed from his court offices early in 1712. The Queen's doctor, Sir David Hamilton, advised her to keep the Duchess in her service "for her own quiet", and the Queen agreed. The duchess served as Mistress of the Robes to Anne from 1711 to 1714, remaining in the queen's service to the end of Anne's life, by which time Lord Dartmouth
described her as "much the greatest favourite".

Public image

A painting of Elizabeth Seymour by Peter Lely

Elizabeth's influence on the Queen, together with her colourful past, made her many enemies. Like her third husband, she seems to have been proud, although Lord Dartmouth called her "the best bred as well as the best born person in England".[3] She showed great skill in dealing with the Queen, her secret, it was said, being never to press the Queen to do anything for her, in contrast to Abigail Masham who constantly asked for favours. She was known as a shrewd observer of Court life and a notorious gossip; even the Queen, who was fond of her, called her "one of the most observing, prying ladies in England".[3]

Death

Elizabeth Seymour, Duchess of Somerset and Mistresses of the Robes to Anne, Queen of Great Britain died of breast cancer on 23/24 November 1722, aged 55.[1]

Estates and residences

Lady Elizabeth Percy brought immense estates to her husbands and in addition her residences: Alnwick Castle, Petworth House, Syon House and Northumberland House in London.[7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19]

References and notes

  1. ^ a b c "Percy, Elizabeth (1667–1722)". Encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 11 February 2022.
  2. ^ Collins, Arthur, Peerage of England, Volume 4, London, 1756, p. 186]
  3. ^ a b c d e f Gregg, E.G. Queen Anne (1980, London) (republished 2014): Yale University Press.
  4. Nicolson, Nigel
    , Great Houses of Britain, London, 1978, p. 166 (see photograph)
  5. ISBN 9780719567148
    .
  6. ^ "Warrant Books: April 1713, 1-15 Pages 169-184 Calendar of Treasury Books, Volume 27, 1713. Originally published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1955". British History Online. Retrieved 13 July 2020.
  7. Cokayne et al., The Complete Peerage
    , volume I, p. 212
  8. Cokayne et al., The Complete Peerage
    , volume I, p. 90
  9. Cokayne et al., The Complete Peerage
    , volume XII, p. 488
  10. The Diary of John Evelyn
  11. ^ "The Letters of Horace Walpole, Volume 1 by Horace Walpole - Full Text Free Book (Part 3/18)". Fullbooks.com. Retrieved 11 February 2022.
  12. ^ Calendar of state papers, domestic series, 1682, 49
  13. Cokayne et al., The Complete Peerage
    , volume XII, p. 586
  14. ^ Burke, John – "Somerset, Duke of" and "Northumberland, Earl of":Burke's Peerage
  15. ^ de Fonblanque, E. B.,Annals of the house of Percy, from the conquest to the opening of the nineteenth century, p. 507
  16. ^ The diary of Sir David Hamilton, 1709–1714, p. 49, edited by Roberts, P. (1975)
  17. ^ A Journal to Stella, Swift, Jonathan, edited by Williams, H. (1948)
  18. ^ Holmes, G. S., British politics in the age of Anne (1967)
  19. ^ Life and Letters of Sir George Savile, p. 244

Sources

Court offices
Preceded by Mistress of the Robes to the Queen
1711–1714 		Succeeded by
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