Lady Lucy Somerset, Baroness Latimer (c. 1524 – 23 February 1583) was an English noblewoman and the daughter of

Henry Somerset, 2nd Earl of Worcester Henry Somerset, 2nd Earl of Worcester (26 November 1549) was an English nobleman. He was the son of Charles Somerset, 1st Earl of Worcester and Elizabeth Herbert, 3rd Baroness Herbert. On his father's death on 15 April 1526, he succeeded as the ...

and his second wife, Elizabeth Browne. Lucy served as a

Maid of Honour A maid of honour is a junior attendant of a queen in royal households. The position was and is junior to the lady-in-waiting. The equivalent title and office has historically been used in most European royal courts. Role Traditionally, a queen ...

to Queen consort

Catherine Howard Catherine Howard ( – 13 February 1542), also spelled Katheryn Howard, was Queen of England from 1540 until 1542 as the fifth wife of Henry VIII. She was the daughter of Lord Edmund Howard and Joyce Culpeper, a cousin to Anne Boleyn (the se ...

. Lady Lucy married in 1545,

John Neville, 4th Baron Latimer John Neville, 4th Baron Latimer (1520 – 22 April 1577) was an English peer, and the stepson of Catherine Parr, later the sixth wife of King Henry VIII. Early life John Neville, born about 1520, was the only son of John Neville, 3rd Baron Lati ...

, the stepson of King Henry's sixth consort Catherine Parr to whom Lucy served in the capacity of Lady-in-waiting.

Family

Lucy Somerset was born about 1524 to

, and his second wife, Elizabeth Browne, the daughter of Sir Anthony Browne, Governor of Queenborough and Lieutenant of Calais and his second wife, Lucy Neville, daughter of

John Neville, 1st Marquess of Montagu John Neville, 1st Marquess of Montagu (c. 1431 – 14 April 1471) was a major magnate of fifteenth-century England. He was a younger son of Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury, and the younger brother of Richard Neville, Earl of Warwic ...

.. Through Lucy's aunt's marriage to Sir Charles Brandon, later

Duke of Suffolk Duke of Suffolk is a title that has been created three times in the peerage of England. The dukedom was first created for William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk, William de la Pole, who had already been elevated to the ranks of earl and marquess ...

, she was a first cousin of Lady Anne Brandon, and her younger sister, Lady Mary Brandon.

At the royal court

Lucy was sent to the court of Henry VIII where she served his fifth consort, Queen

as a Maid of Honour. In 1542, when the Queen was awaiting execution for

High Treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...

after having been found guilty of adultery, Lucy was mentioned in a letter by Imperial Ambassador

Eustace Chapuys Eustace Chapuys (; c. 1490/92 – 21 January 1556), the son of Louis Chapuys and Guigonne Dupuys, was a Savoyard diplomat who served Charles V as Imperial ambassador to England from 1529 until 1545 and is best known for his extensive and detaile ...

to his master Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor as having been one of the three ladies in whom the King was showing a marked interest and was considering for his sixth wife. However, in 1543, the King chose for his sixth consort, the Dowager Lady Latimer, Catherine Parr.

Marriage and issue

In 1545, she married Queen Catherine Parr's stepson,

(c. 1520 – 22 April 1577), making her the new Baroness Latimer. After her marriage, Lucy was invited to become lady-in-waiting to Queen Catherine. Lucy became part of the close knit circle around the queen. Together they had four daughters who became co-heiresses to John and the barony of Latimer: * Catherine Neville (1546 – 28 October 1596), married

Henry Percy, 8th Earl of Northumberland Henry Percy, 8th Earl of Northumberland, 2nd Baron Percy (153221 June 1585) was an English nobleman and conspirator. Origins He was born in about 1532 at Newburn Manor (Northumberland), the second of two sons of Sir Thomas Percy (c. 1504–15 ...

, by whom she had issue. * Dorothy Neville (1547 – 23 March 1609), married

Thomas Cecil, 1st Earl of Exeter Thomas Cecil, 1st Earl of Exeter, KG (5 May 1542 – 8 February 1623), known as Lord Burghley from 1598 to 1605, was an English politician, courtier and soldier. Family Thomas Cecil was the elder son of William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, b ...

, by whom she had issue. * Lucy Neville (died April 1608), married Sir William Cornwallis of Brome Hall, by whom she had issue. * Elizabeth Neville (c. 1550 – 1630), married firstly Sir John Danvers of Dauntsey, by whom she had issue, she married secondly Sir Edmund Carey. All of their daughter's first marriages above produced children. Lord Latimer died without sons in 1577; his four daughters became his joint heiresses. The barony became abeyant until 1913, when its abeyance was terminated in favour of Latimer's distant descendant Francis Money-Coutts, 5th Baron Latymer.

Death

Lucy died on 23 February 1583 and was buried in Hackney as she had requested in her will which was dated 16 November 1582.

Ancestry

Footnotes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Somerset, Lucy 1524 births 1583 deaths British maids of honour Daughters of British earls English ladies-in-waiting 16th-century English women Household of Catherine Parr Household of Catherine Howard English baronesses Wives of knights