Politician. He was an English Aristocracy, who was very politically active. Born the son of Sir Thomas Parr and Maud Green, and brother to Katherine Parr, the last wife of Henry VIII and the Queen of England and Ireland. He was said to have loved poetry, music, and living well. He married Anne Bourchier, Baroness Bourchier, the daughter of Henry Bourchier, 2nd Earl of Essex, in February 1526. He sat as a Member of Parliament for Northamptonshire and was made Baron Parr of Kendal in 1539. After his wife had eloped with another man, he obtained an Act of Parliament in April of 1543, repudiating his wife for adultery, and declaring all of her children belonged to another man, and therefore illegitimate. In December of 1543, shortly after his sister, Katherine, had married Henry VIII, he was created Earl of Essex, a title that had been held by his father-in-law, who had died in 1540. During Henry VIII's last years, he married Elizabeth Brooke in 1547 and was created 1st Marquess of Northampton. They were ordered to separate, however, until his marriage to Anne Bourchier was finally terminated in 1552 through an Act of Parliament, which declared his first marriage to be annulled, and his second marriage to be valid. Under Edward VI, he was a favorite of the young king, and served as lord-lieutenant of five of the eastern counties, and as Great Chamberlain from 1550 to 1553. With the death of Edward VI, he and his wife were among the leaders in the contingent, who planned to supplant Princess Mary with Lady Jane Grey. With the collapse of the plot, he was arrested and stripped of titles by Mary I in 1553, his marriage to Elizabeth Brooke was declared invalid as well. Sentenced to death, he was pardoned and released at the end of the year. With the death of Mary I and the ascension of Queen Elizabeth I, he was once again in favor, his titles restored and his marriage declared valid, as his wife one of the Queen Elizabeth's closest friends, until his wife's death in 1564. In the last year of his life, he married Helena von Snakenborg, a member of the entourage who accompanied the Margrave and Margravine of Baden to court. He died five months later at Warwick without legitimate children, his titles became extinct and being near penniless, Queen Elizabeth paid for his funeral.