Anne Herbert, Countess of Pembroke, Baroness Herbert of Cardiff ( Parr; 15 June 1515 – 20 February 1552) was lady-in-waiting to each of Henry VIII of England's six wives. She was the younger sister of his sixth wife, Catherine Parr.
Early years
Anne was born on 15 June 1515 to Sir Thomas Parr and Maud Green. She was the youngest surviving child of five, having an older sister Catherine 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. Maud Green was a lady-in-waiting and confidant to Catherine of Aragon. She was also head of the Royal school at court where Anne was educated alongside her sister Catherine and other daughters of the nobility. They were taught by the brilliant Humanist scholar Joan Lluís Vives who was the principal tutor at the Royal school. Anne would have been taught French, Latin, philosophy, theology, and the Classics. Maud Green had already taught her children to read and write when they were small. Anne herself later said that her education at home was based on the approach used in the family of Sir Thomas More where boys and girls were educated together; as was the case with the Parrs until her brother left home in 1525 to join the household of Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Richmond and Somerset.
At court
Sometime in 1528, Maud Green secured her 13-year-old daughter, Anne, a post at Court as maid-of-honour to Queen Catherine of Aragon. Anne was then made a ward of King Henry. When Anne Boleyn was crowned queen in 1533, Anne Parr continued in the same capacity as maid-of-honour. She quickly succumbed to the spell of Queen Anne's charismatic personality and following the Queen's example, she became an ardent supporter of the New Faith. After Anne Boleyn's fall from power and subsequent execution, Anne remained at Court in the service of the new queen, Jane Seymour. Anne Parr served all of Henry VIII's queens from the mid-1530s, and is one of the few women to have been lady-in-waiting to all six. She was one of the few present at the baptism of Prince Edward on 15 October 1537 and was part of the funeral cortege of Jane Seymour.
When King Henry took as his fourth wife Anne of Cleves, Anne returned to her role as maid-of-honour, which she remained in when Queen Anne was supplanted by Catherine Howard. Following Queen Catherine's arrest for adultery, Anne Parr was entrusted with the Queen's jewels.
Marriage
In February 1538, Anne married Sir William Herbert, Esquire of the King's Body. Herbert was the son of Sir Richard Herbert, the illegitimate son of William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke. It is likely that Anne met her husband at court. It is not known whether or not the marriage was a love match, but both Anne and her sister Catherine had been attracted to dashing men of action who were slightly disreputable. The Herberts, due to King Henry's newly found infatuation for Catherine, 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. They also used Baynard's Castle as their London residence. Anne had three children by her husband: Henry, who succeeded his father; Edward Herbert; and Anne Herbert. For the birth of her second son, Anne's sister loaned her the manor of Hanworth in Middlesex for her lying in. After the birth, Anne visited Lady Hertford, who had also just given birth, at Syon House near Richmond. In August, the queen sent a barge to bring Anne by river from Syon back to Westminster.