... was the elder brother of Edward VI's mother, Jane Seymour, and thus his uncle. Jane Seymour married Henry VIII on 30 May 1536; her father was created Viscount Beauchamp six days later, and Earl of Hertford on 15 October 1537.
Henry VIII died on 28 January 1547, when his only son was just nine years and three months old. His will entrusted the government of the realm during the minority of his son and heir to a Regency Council of sixteen named members, that would rule collectively, by majority decision, with "like and equal charge". But on 4 February 1547, just a week after Henry's death, the Council chose to invest almost regal power in Edward Seymour, who became Lord Protector of the Realm and Governor of the King's Person, and who created himself Duke of Somerset.
Seymour's attempt to enforce enclosure (the transfer of land from common to private ownership) offended landowners, and his moderation in religion upset the Protestants. By 1549 the Council had turned against him, and both Seymour and the young king were arrested in October of that year. Seymour was executed on 22 January 1552, on what the Wordsworth Dictionary of Biography describes as "a fake treason charge".
With Edward VI still only 14 years old, Seymour was suceeded as Protector by John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland. Once regarded by historians merely as "a grasping schemer who cynically elevated and enriched himself at the expense of the crown " (according to Wikipedia), Northumberland has been credited in the last 50 years with restoring the authority of the royal Council and returning the government to an even keel after the disasters of Somerset's protectorate. His downfall resulted from his attempts to install his daughter–in–law, Lady Jane Grey, on the throne after Edward's death in July 1553 ... but that's another story.
© Haydn Thompson 2021