| Charles Seymour, 6th Duke Of Somerset |
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Information About ™Charles Seymour, 6th Duke Of Somerset |
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Charles was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge ; and in 1682 he married a great heiress, Elizabeth Percy , daughter of Joceline Percy, 11th Earl Of Northumberland , who brought him immense estates, including Alnwick Castle , Petworth , Syon House and Northumberland House in London . In 1683 , Somerset received an appointment in the king’s household, and two years later a colonelcy of dragoons; but at the revolution he bore arms for the Prince Of Orange . Having befriended Princess Anne in 1692 , he became a favourite of hers after her accession to the throne, receiving the post of Master Of The Horse in 1702 . Finding himself neglected by Marlborough , he made friends with the Tories , and succeeded in retaining the queen’s confidence, while his wife replaced the Duchess of Marlborough as Mistress Of The Robes in 1711 . In the memorable crisis when Anne was at the point of death, Somerset acted with Argyll , Shrewsbury and other Whig nobles who, by insisting on their right to be present in the Privy Council , secured the Hanoverian succession to the Crown. He retained the office of Master of the Horse under George I till 1716 , when he was dismissed and retired into private life; he died at Petworth on 2 December 1748 . The duke’s first wife having died in 1722 , he married secondly, in 1726 , Charlotte, daughter of the 2nd Earl Of Nottingham . He was a remarkably handsome man, and inordinately fond of taking a conspicuous part in court ceremonial; his vanity, which earned him the sobriquet of "the proud duke," was a byword among his contemporaries and was the subject of numerous anecdotes; Macaulay’s description of him as "a man in whom the pride of birth and rank amounted almost to a disease," is well known. ISSUE Charles and Lady Elizabeth had four children:
On February 4 1725 , he married, Lady Charlotte Finch ( 1711 – 1773 ), daughter of Daniel Finch, 7th Earl Of Winchilsea and had two children:
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