Editing Earl of Pembroke (section)

===The tenth creation (1551): Herbert===
[[File:Philip Herbert, 4th Earl of Pembroke, with his Family.jpg|thumb|250x250px|[[Philip Herbert, 4th Earl of Pembroke]] and his second wife, [[Lady Anne Clifford]], and his Family by [[Anthony van Dyck|Van Dyck]]. (Wilton House)]]
The title was next revived in favour of [[William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke (1501-1570)|Sir William Herbert]], whose father, Richard, was an illegitimate son of the 1st Earl of Pembroke of the house of Herbert. He had married [[Anne Herbert, Countess of Pembroke|Anne Parr]], sister of Henry VIII's sixth wife, [[Catherine Parr]], and was created Earl in 1551. The title has since been held by their descendants.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=79}}<ref name="debretts"/>
[[File:Earl of Pembroke coa.png|thumb|250px|Arms of the Earls of Pembroke (tenth creation)]]
* [[William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke (died 1570)|William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke]] (1501–1570)
* [[Henry Herbert, 2nd Earl of Pembroke]] (1534–1601)
* [[William Herbert, 3rd Earl of Pembroke]] (1580–1630)
* [[Philip Herbert, 4th Earl of Pembroke|Philip Herbert, 4th Earl of Pembroke, 1st Earl of Montgomery]] (1584–1649)
* [[Philip Herbert, 5th Earl of Pembroke|Philip Herbert, 5th Earl of Pembroke, 2nd Earl of Montgomery]] (1621–1669)
* [[William Herbert, 6th Earl of Pembroke|William Herbert, 6th Earl of Pembroke, 3rd Earl of Montgomery]] (1642–1674)
* [[Philip Herbert, 7th Earl of Pembroke|Philip Herbert, 7th Earl of Pembroke, 4th Earl of Montgomery]] (c. 1652{{snd}}1683)
* [[Thomas Herbert, 8th Earl of Pembroke|Thomas Herbert, 8th Earl of Pembroke, 5th Earl of Montgomery]] (1656–1733)
* [[Henry Herbert, 9th Earl of Pembroke|Henry Herbert, 9th Earl of Pembroke, 6th Earl of Montgomery]] (1693–1750)
* [[Henry Herbert, 10th Earl of Pembroke|Henry Herbert, 10th Earl of Pembroke, 7th Earl of Montgomery]] (1734–1794)
* [[George Herbert, 11th Earl of Pembroke|George Augustus Herbert, 11th Earl of Pembroke, 8th Earl of Montgomery]] (1759–1827)
* [[Robert Herbert, 12th Earl of Pembroke|Robert Henry Herbert, 12th Earl of Pembroke, 9th Earl of Montgomery]] (1791–1862)
* [[George Herbert, 13th Earl of Pembroke|George Robert Charles Herbert, 13th Earl of Pembroke, 10th Earl of Montgomery]] (1850–1895)
* [[Sidney Herbert, 14th Earl of Pembroke|Sidney Herbert, 14th Earl of Pembroke, 11th Earl of Montgomery]] (1853–1913)
* [[Reginald Herbert, 15th Earl of Pembroke|Reginald Herbert, 15th Earl of Pembroke, 12th Earl of Montgomery]] (1880–1960)
* [[Sidney Herbert, 16th Earl of Pembroke|Sidney Charles Herbert, 16th Earl of Pembroke, 13th Earl of Montgomery]] (1906–1969)
* [[Henry Herbert, 17th Earl of Pembroke|Henry George Charles Alexander Herbert, 17th Earl of Pembroke, 14th Earl of Montgomery]] (1939–2003)
* [[William Herbert, 18th Earl of Pembroke|William Alexander Sidney Herbert, 18th Earl of Pembroke, 15th Earl of Montgomery]] (b. 1978)

The [[heir apparent]] is the present holder's son Reginald Henry Michael Herbert, Lord Herbert (b. 2012).

An executor of [[Henry VIII's will]] and the recipient of valuable grants of land, Herbert was a prominent and powerful personage during the reign of [[Edward VI of England|Edward VI]], with both the protector [[Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset|Somerset]] and his rival, [[John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland|John Dudley]], afterwards Duke of Northumberland, angling for his support. He threw in his lot with Dudley, and after Somerset's fall obtained some of his lands in Wiltshire and a peerage. It has been asserted that he devised the scheme for settling the English crown on [[Lady Jane Grey]]; at all events, he was one of her advisers during her short reign, but he declared for [[Mary I of England|Mary]] when he saw that Lady Jane's cause was lost. Pembroke's loyalty was at times suspected by Mary and her friends, but he was employed as [[governor of Calais]], as president of Wales and in other ways. He was also to some extent in the confidence of [[Philip II of Spain]]. The Earl retained his place at court under [[Elizabeth I of England|Elizabeth]] until 1569, when he was suspected of favouring the projected marriage between [[Mary, Queen of Scots]], and the Duke of Norfolk. Among the monastic lands granted to Herbert was the estate of [[Wilton House|Wilton]], near Salisbury, still the residence of the Earls of Pembroke.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=79}}

His elder son [[Henry Herbert, 2nd Earl of Pembroke|Henry]] (c. 1534{{snd}}1601), who succeeded as 2nd Earl, was president of Wales from 1586 until his death. He married in 1577 [[Mary Sidney]], the famous Countess of Pembroke (c. 1561–1621), third daughter of Sir [[Henry Sidney]] and his wife [[Mary Dudley, Lady Sidney|Mary Dudley]]. Sir [[Philip Sidney]], to whom she was deeply attached through life, was her eldest brother. Sir Philip spent the summer of 1580 with her at [[Wilton House|Wilton]], or at [[Ivychurch Priory|Ivychurch]], a favourite retreat of hers close by. Here at her request, he began the ''[[Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia]]'', which was intended for her pleasure alone, not for publication. The two also worked on a metrical edition of the Psalms. When the great sorrow of her brother's death came upon her she made herself his literary executor, correcting the unauthorized editions of the Arcadia and of his poems, which appeared in 1590 and 1591. She also took under her patronage the poets who had looked to her brother for protection. [[Edmund Spenser|Spenser]] dedicated his ''[[Ruines of Time]]'' to her, and refers to her as "Urania" in ''Colin Clout's come home againe''; in Spenser's ''Astrophel'' she is "Clorinda". In 1599 Queen Elizabeth was her guest at Wilton, and the Countess composed for the occasion a pastoral dialogue in praise of Astraea. After her husband's death, she lived chiefly in London at [[Crosby Hall, London|Crosby Hall]], where she died.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=79}}

The Countess's other works include ''A Discourse of Life and Death'', translated from the French of [[Philippe de Mornay|Plessis du Mornay]] (1593), and ''Antoine'' (1592), a version of a tragedy of [[Robert Garnier]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=79}} She is one of the handful of people whom certain scholars conjecture may have been the true author of the plays attributed to William Shakespeare. Robin Williams' book ''Sweet Swan of Avon'' published by Wilton Circle Press, USA, documents the Countess's fascinating life as well as those of her two sons (see below).

[[William Herbert, 3rd Earl of Pembroke]] (1580–1630), eldest son of the 2nd Earl and his famous countess, was a conspicuous figure in the society of his time and at the court of [[James I of England|James I]]. Several times he found himself opposed to the schemes of the [[George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham|Duke of Buckingham]], and he was keenly interested in [[British colonization of the Americas|the colonization of America]]. He was Lord Chamberlain of the royal household from 1615 to 1625 and Lord Steward from 1626 to 1630. He was [[Chancellor of the University of Oxford]] in 1624 when Thomas Tesdale and Richard Wightwick refounded Broadgates Hall and named it [[Pembroke College, Oxford|Pembroke College]] in his honour. By some Shakespearian commentators, Pembroke has been identified with the "Mr W. H." referred to as ''"the onlie begetter"'' of Shakespeare's sonnets in the dedication by [[Thomas Thorpe]], the owner of the published manuscript, while his mistress, [[Mary Fitton]], has been identified with the "dark lady" of the sonnets. In both cases, the identification rests on very questionable evidence. He and his brother Philip (the second Herbert son who, for some profitable time, was the adored object of "bisexual" King James I's affections) are the ''"incomparable pair of brethren"'' to whom the [[First Folio]] of [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]] is inscribed.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|pp=79-80}}

The Earl left no sons when he died in London on 10 April 1630. [[Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon|Clarendon]] gives a eulogistic account of Pembroke, who appears, however, to have been a man of weak character and dissolute life. Gardiner describes him as the [[Hamlet]] of the English court. He had literary tastes and wrote poems; one of his closest friends was the poet [[John Donne|Donne]], and he was generous to [[Ben Jonson]], [[Philip Massinger|Massinger]] and others.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=80}}

His brother, [[Philip Herbert, 4th Earl of Pembroke]] (1584–1650), was for some years the chief [[favourite]] of James I, owing this position to his comely person and his passion for hunting and for field sports generally. In 1605 King [[James I of England]] created him [[Earl of Montgomery]] and Baron Herbert of Shurland, and since 1630, when he succeeded to the Earldom of Pembroke, the head of the Herbert family has carried the double title of Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=80}}

Although Philip's quarrelsome disposition often led him into trouble he did not forfeit the esteem of James I, who heaped lands and offices upon him, and he was also trusted by [[Charles I of England|Charles I]], who made him Lord Chamberlain in 1626 and frequently visited him at Wilton. He worked to bring about peace between the King and the Scots in 1639 and 1640, but when in the latter year the quarrel between Charles and the English parliament was renewed, he deserted the King who soon deprived him of his office of chamberlain. Trusted by the popular party, Pembroke was made governor of the Isle of Wight, and he was one of the representatives of the parliament on several occasions, notably during the negotiations at Uxbridge in 1645 and at Newport in 1648, and when the Scots surrendered Charles in 1647. From 1641 to 1643, and again from 1647 to 1650, he was Chancellor of the University of Oxford; in 1648 he removed some of the heads of houses from their positions because they would not take the [[Solemn League and Covenant]], and his foul language led to the remark that he was more fitted ''"by his eloquence in swearing to preside over Bedlam than a learned academy".'' In 1649, although a peer, he was elected and took his seat in the House of Commons as member for [[Berkshire (UK Parliament constituency)|Berkshire]], this "ascent downwards" calling forth many satirical writings from the royalist wits. The Earl was a great collector of pictures and had some taste for architecture.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=80}}

His eldest surviving son, [[Philip Herbert, 5th Earl of Pembroke|Philip]] (1621–1669), became 5th Earl of Pembroke, and 2nd Earl of Montgomery; he was twice married, and was succeeded in turn by three of his sons, of whom Phillip, the 7th Earl, was notorious for bouts of homicidal mania, while Thomas, the 8th Earl (c. 1656–1733), was a person of note during the reigns of [[William III of England|William III]] and [[Anne, Queen of Great Britain|Anne]]. From 1690 to 1692 he was [[first Lord of the Admiralty]]; then he served as [[Lord Privy Seal]] until 1699, being in 1697 the first plenipotentiary of Great Britain at the [[Treaty of Ryswick|congress of Ryswick]]. On two occasions he was [[British Admiralty|Lord High Admiral]] for a short period; he was also [[Lord President of the Council]] and [[Lord Lieutenant of Ireland]], while he acted as one of the Lords Justices seven times; and he was President of the [[Royal Society]] in 1689–1690.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=80}}

His son Henry, the 9th Earl (c. 1693–1750), was a soldier, but was better known as the "architect Earl." He was largely responsible for the erection of [[Westminster Bridge]]. The title descended directly to Henry, 10th Earl (1734–1794), a soldier, who wrote ''"The Method of Breaking Horses"'' (1762); then to George Augustus, 11th Earl (1759–1827), an ambassador extraordinary to Vienna in 1807.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=80}}

Robert Henry, 12th Earl (1791–1862), died in France without issue and was buried in the [[Père Lachaise Cemetery]] in Paris. George Robert Charles, the 13th Earl (1850–1895), was a grandson of the 10th Earl and a son of [[Sidney Herbert, 1st Baron Herbert of Lea]], whose second son [[Sidney Herbert, 14th Earl of Pembroke|Sidney]] (born 1853), after a career as a [[Member of Parliament (UK)|Member of Parliament]], inherited all the family titles at his brother's death.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=80}} His eldest son [[Reginald Herbert, 15th Earl of Pembroke|Reginald]] became 15th earl in March 1913. He was succeeded by his eldest son [[Sidney Herbert, 16th Earl of Pembroke|Sidney]], 16th earl, who spent time in the service of the [[Prince George, Duke of Kent|Duke of Kent]] and served as a trustee of the [[National Gallery]]. His son [[Henry Herbert, 17th Earl of Pembroke]], who was often known simply as Henry Herbert, succeeded to the titles in 1969; he had a significant career as a documentarian and film director.

{{As of|2018}}, the current earl is [[William Herbert, 18th Earl of Pembroke]], who became earl of Pembroke and 15th of Montgomery on the death of his father in 2003.