William Herbert, 2nd Earl of Pembroke
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William Herbert, 2nd Earl of Pembroke (5 March 1451 – 16 July 1491) was the son of William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke and Anne Devereux. His maternal grandparents were Walter Devereux, Lord Chancellor of Ireland
Lord Chancellor of Ireland
The office of Lord Chancellor of Ireland was the highest judicial office in Ireland until the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922. From 1721 to 1801 it was also the highest political office of the Irish Parliament.-13th century:...

 and Elizabeth Merbury.

He succeeded his father in the earldom
Earl of Pembroke
Earl of Pembroke is a title created ten times, all in the Peerage of England. It was first created in the 12th century by King Stephen of England. The title is associated with Pembroke, Pembrokeshire in West Wales, which is the site of Earldom's original seat Pembroke Castle...

 in 1469. In 1479, he surrendered the earldom, and was created Earl of Huntingdon
Earl of Huntingdon
Earl of Huntingdon is a title which has been created several times in the Peerage of England. The title is associated with the ruling house of Scotland, and latterly with the Hastings family.-Early history:...

. A Yorkist
House of York
The House of York was a branch of the English royal House of Plantagenet, three members of which became English kings in the late 15th century. The House of York was descended in the paternal line from Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, the fourth surviving son of Edward III, but also represented...

, he married Mary Woodville
Mary Woodville
Mary Woodville was sister to Edward the Fourth's Queen, Elizabeth Woodville, and to Anthony Woodville, the "Lord Rivers" of Shakespeare's Richard III.-Biography:...

, sister of the queen, Elizabeth Woodville
Elizabeth Woodville
Elizabeth Woodville was Queen consort of England as the spouse of King Edward IV from 1464 until his death in 1483. Elizabeth was a key figure in the series of dynastic civil wars known as the Wars of the Roses. Her first husband, Sir John Grey of Groby was killed at the Second Battle of St Albans...

, and they had one daughter, Elizabeth Herbert, 3rd Baroness Herbert
Elizabeth Herbert, 3rd Baroness Herbert
Elizabeth Somerset, 3rd Baroness Herbert was the sole heir and daughter of William Herbert, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, and his first wife, Mary Woodville....

.

He was the least wealthy of the earls of his time, and after his marriage to his second wife, Katherine, an illegitimate daughter of King Richard III of England
Richard III of England
Richard III was King of England for two years, from 1483 until his death in 1485 during the Battle of Bosworth Field. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty...

, he received an annuity of some 600 pounds a year, nearly doubling his income. Katherine is presumed to have died by 1487, because when William participated in the coronation of his first wife's cousin, Elizabeth of York
Elizabeth of York
Elizabeth of York was Queen consort of England as spouse of King Henry VII from 1486 until 1503, and mother of King Henry VIII of England....

, he was noted to have been a widower.

Herbert remained loyal to Richard III. After the rebellion of 1483 he received the post of Chief Justice of South Wales, which had been the Duke of Buckingham
Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham
Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, KG played a major role in Richard III of England's rise and fall. He is also one of the primary suspects in the disappearance of the Princes in the Tower...

's.

When Henry of Richmond
Henry VII of England
Henry VII was King of England and Lord of Ireland from his seizing the crown on 22 August 1485 until his death on 21 April 1509, as the first monarch of the House of Tudor....

 landed in south Wales in 1485 Herbert's position forced Henry to take a roundabout route into England. It is likely that a Herbert agent first notified Richard III of Henry's landing. Herbert did not, however, fight at Bosworth.

When he died, his only child, Elizabeth Herbert, received the Herbert lands, including Raglan Castle
Raglan Castle
Raglan Castle is a late medieval castle located just north of the village of Raglan in the county of Monmouthshire in south east Wales. The modern castle dates from between the 15th and early 17th-centuries, when the successive ruling families of the Herberts and the Somersets created a luxurious,...

, but not his title. However, oddly, his earldom did not pass to his younger brother, Walter Herbert.
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