Lucy Somerset

Lady Lucy Somerset, Baroness Latimer (c.1524 – 23 February 1583) was an English noblewoman and the daughter of Henry Somerset, 2nd Earl of Worcester though there is disagreement as to whether her mother was his first wife Lady Margaret Courtenay or his second wife, Elizabeth Browne. She served as a Maid of Honour to Queen consort Catherine Howard. Lady Lucy married in 1545, John Neville, 4th Baron Latimer, 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 Henry Somerset, 2nd Earl of Worcester and his first wife Lady Margaret Courtenay, daughter of William Courtenay, 1st Earl of Devon, by Catherine of York, daughter of Edward IV, King of England,^[1] though some sources say by 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.^[2] Through Lucy's aunt's marriage to Sir Charles Brandon, later Duke of Suffolk, 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 Catherine Howard as a Maid of Honour. In 1542, when the Queen was awaiting execution for High Treason after having been found guilty of adultery, Lucy was mentioned in a letter by Imperial Ambassador Eustace Chapuys 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.^{[citation needed]}

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, John Neville, 4th Baron Latimer (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:

Hon. Catherine Neville (1546- 28 October 1596), married Henry Percy, 8th Earl of Northumberland, by whom she had issue.
Hon. Dorothy Neville (1547- 23 March 1609), married Thomas Cecil, 1st Earl of Exeter, by whom she had issue.
Hon. Lucy Neville (Died April 1608), married Sir William Cornwallis of Brome Hall, by whom she had issue.
Hon. 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 the 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.