Edward Seymour, 1st Earl of Hertford, 1st Baron Beauchamp, KG (22 May 1539 – 6 April 1621), of Wulfhall and Totnam Lodge in Great Bedwyn, Wiltshire, of Hatch Beauchamp in Somerset, of Netley Abbey, Hampshire, and of Hertford House, Cannon Row in Westminster, is most noted for incurring the displeasure of Queen Elizabeth I by taking part in more than one clandestine marriage.

The senior line did eventually inherit the dukedom in 1750, as the special remainder allowed, when the 7th Duke of Somerset died leaving no sons.

Some of his father's lands and property were restored to him by Edward VI, but he still seems to have been forced to rely on Sir John Thynne for some financial support.

[1] Between April and May 1605[2] following the Treaty of London (1604) he was sent on an Embassy by King James I to Albert VII, Archduke of Austria,[3] sovereign of the Spanish Netherlands between 1598 and 1621, at Brussels, to receive his oath of peace.

[4] His first wife, Lady Katherine Grey, was a potential claimant to Elizabeth's throne, and law established that it was a penal offence for her to marry without notifying the Sovereign.

The marriage was kept secret until August nearly a year later, when Katherine became visibly pregnant and she confided the reason to Lord Robert Dudley.

His son Edward was declared illegitimate and the father was fined 15,000 pounds in Star Chamber for "seducing a virgin of the blood royal."

Lord Hertford died in 1621 at Netley Abbey, Hampshire, and was buried in the Seymour Chapel of Salisbury Cathedral in Wiltshire, where his elaborate monument in white alabaster with effigies of himself and his first wife survives.