William Somerset, 3rd Earl of Worcester, KG (c. 1526/1527 – 21 February 1589) was an English courtier, nobleman, and politician. He was the eldest son 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.

Earl of Worcester

On 26 November 1549, he succeeded his father and became the 3rd

Earl of Worcester Earl of Worcester is a title that has been created five times in the Peerage of England. Five creations The first creation came in 1138 in favour of the Norman noble Waleran de Beaumont. He was the son of Robert de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Leice ...

. Worcester supported Lady Jane Grey in 1553. He was invested as Knight, Order of the Garter (K.G.) in 1570. He was a patron of the arts, and sponsored - among others - the Elizabethan actor Edward Alleyn.

Marriages and children

Before 19 May 1550, Worcester married Christiana North, daughter of Edward North, 1st Baron North and his wife Alice Squire. They were parents to three children: * Edward Somerset, 4th Earl of Worcester (d. 3 March 1628). *Elizabeth Somerset. Married William Windsor. He was a namesake son of William Windsor, 2nd Baron Windsor by his wife Margaret Sambourne. *Lucy Somerset. Married Henry Herbert, Esquire. William Somerset re-married (2nd) before 1567 Theophila Newton, daughter of John Newton (otherwise Cradock), Knt., of East Harptree, Somerset, by Margaret, daughter of Anthony Poyntz, Knt. A portrait of Countess Theophila by an unknown artist of that date is mentioned by Ashelford, Visual History of Costume (1983): 72.

Death

William Somerset died at his house Hackney on 21 February 1589 and was buried in the

Church of St Cadoc, Raglan, Monmouthshire St Cadoc's Church, Raglan, Monmouthshire, south east Wales, is the parish church of the village of Raglan. The church is situated at a cross-roads in the centre of the village. Built originally by the Clare and Bluet families in the thirteenth ...

.Newman, John (2002). Gwent/Monmouthshire. New Haven; London: Yale University Press. p. 305. .

Ancestry

Notes

External links

* Knights of the Garter *03 *05 1520s births 1589 deaths Somerset family 16th-century English nobility {{England-earl-stub