She was the youngest surviving child of five, having an older sister Katherine and brother William Parr, 1st Marquess of Northampton.

In 1517, when she was two years old, her father died of the sweating sickness leaving her mother a widow at twenty-five, pregnant, and with the grave responsibility of guarding the inheritance of the Parr children.

They were taught by the brilliant Humanist scholar Joan Lluís Vives who was the principal tutor at the Royal school.

[2] Sometime in 1528, Maud Green secured her 13-year-old daughter, Anne, a post at Court as maid-of-honour to Queen Katherine of Aragon.

It is not known whether or not the marriage was a love match, but both Anne and her sister Katherine had been attracted to dashing men of action who were slightly disreputable.

[2] The Herberts, due to King Henry's newly found infatuation for Katherine, appeared to be in the King's favour, as for the next few years Anne and her husband received a succession of Royal grants which included the Abbey of Wilton in Wiltshire (pulled down and built over for Wilton House in the 1540s), Remesbury (north Wiltshire), and Cardiff Castle.

Anne Parr was a witness to the wedding ceremony performed at Hampton Court Palace on 12 July 1543, when King Henry married her sister Katherine.

In 1553 he received the disgraced Duke of Somerset's Wiltshire estates, including Ramsbury and a newly built mansion at Bedwin Broil, as well as extensive woodland on the borders of the New Forest.

[2] Herbert was also granted, on the attainder of Sir Thomas Arundell, Wardour Castle and park; he also obtained some property which had belonged to the diocese of Winchester.

The Wardour property subsequently reverted to the Arundell family by exchange and purchase, but Pembroke's increase of wealth exceeded that of any of his colleagues.

[7] Anne was buried on 28 February 1552 in the Old St Paul's Cathedral in the City of London, next to her ancestor John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster.

Anne Parr and William Herbert had three children: An inventory made in 1561 included the Countess's remaining possessions, and is now held by the National Art Library at the Victoria and Albert Museum.