Henry Howard, 7th Duke of Norfolk

Who was Henry Howard, 7th Duke of Norfolk?

Henry Howard, 7th Duke of Norfolk, KG PC Earl Marshal was a politician and soldier. He was the son of Henry Howard, 6th Duke of Norfolk and Lady Anne Somerset, daughter of Edward Somerset, 2nd Marquess of Worcester and Elizabeth Dormer. He was summoned to the House of Lords in his own right as Baron Mowbray in 1678.

He married Mary Mordaunt, the only daughter and heiress of the 2nd Earl of Peterborough. They divorced in 1700 and he died without children. He was succeeded by his nephew, Thomas Howard, 8th Duke of Norfolk.

He was rarely on good terms with his father, particularly after 1677 when his father married Jane Bickerton, his mistress of many years, causing a violent family quarrel.

Like almost all the Howards he was a devout Roman Catholic; but during the anti-Catholic hysteria engendered by the Popish Plot he publicly conformed to the Church of England. There is little doubt that this was simply a device to save the family estates, and seems to have succeeded; although his father was charged with recusancy in 1680, the charge did not proceed.