Anne Russell, Countess of Bedford (9 December 1615 – 10 May 1684), formerly Lady Anne Carr, was a wealthy English noblewoman, and the wife of William Russell, 5th Earl of Bedford, a peer and soldier during the English Civil War, who after her death was created Duke of Bedford. Her mother was Frances Howard. In about 1638, Anne was the subject of at least two portraits by Flemish painter Anthony van Dyck.
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Family
Anticipating the birth and christening of his child, in September 1615, at one time the royal favourite Robert Carr, 1st Earl of Somerset commissioned new silver plate from the goldsmith John Williams. Lady Anne was born, on 9 December 1615, the only child and heir of the Earl of Somerset and Frances Howard, a member of the noble Howard family. She is said to have been born in the Tower of London, but some sources say she was born at the house of Lord D'Aubigny on the Strand, where her mother was kept under house-arrest during her pregnancy. According to the Diary of Lady Anne Clifford, her mother was taken to the Tower on 24 March 1616.
Anne was baptised on 16 December 1615 at St Martin's Church, Ludgate. At the time of her birth, her parents were imprisoned on charges of having participated in the fatal poisoning of Sir Thomas Overbury in 1613. They were both sentenced to death, but later spared execution. Her mother admitted to her complicity in the crime but her father maintained his innocence. The family remained in the Tower until January 1622 when King James I pardoned the Earl and Countess of Somerset.