Photographs of Wales, UK

Raglan Castle (Castell Rhaglan) is located just north of the village of Raglan, about 7 miles south-west of the town of Monmouth in south-east Wales. The current castle is a Grade I listed building, dating from between the 15th and early 17th centuries but is on the site of earlier fortifications. It is owned by the Duke of Beaufort and managed by Cadw.

After the Norman invasion, land around Raglan was granted to William FitzOsbern, Earl of Hereford. There may have been a motte and bailey castle on the site at this period. The manor of Raglan was in the Bloet family from the late 12th to the early 14th century. By the late medieval period there were deer parks around the area. The current castle was begun by Sir William ap Thomas who rose to prominence in the middle of the 15th century and who improved his fortunes by marrying in turn two wealthy heiresses. In 1406 he married Elizabeth (died 1420) the daughter of Sir John Bluet of Raglan manor and widow of Sir James Berkeley. Elizabeth inherited Raglan Castle with her husband James Berkeley, who later died in 1405 or 1406. William was her third husband and they had no children. William's second marriage was to the heiress Gwladys ferch Dafydd Gam (died 1454), who was the daughter of Sir Dafydd Gam and the widow of Sir Roger Vaughan of Bredwardine. This marriage produced several children including William (1423–1469) who adopted the name Herbert.

In 1432, William purchased the manor of Raglan having previously been a tenant. He began construction but most of his work was later built over with the exception of the South gate and Great Tower. It has been claimed that William fought at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415 but he is not named in a list of those present. However, records show that he was made a Knight Bachelor by Henry VI in 1426. He was known as the "Blue Knight of Gwent."

Sir William ap Thomas' son, also William, adopted an English surname and called himself William Herbert. He was also known as Black William. He made his fortune from the wine trade in Gascony and began to rebuid Raglan Castle on a larger and more luxurious scale. He was knighted in 1452 and in 1461 was rewarded by King Edward IV with the title Baron Herbert of Raglan and was invested as a Knight of the Garter. William was involved in the Hundred Years War (1337-1453) and supported the House of York in the Wars of the Roses. After Yorkist victory at the Battle of Towton in 1461, Herbert replaced Jasper Tudor as Earl of Pembroke (8th creation) which gave him control of Pembroke Castle – and with it, he gained the wardship of young Henry Tudor. However, he fell out with Lord Warwick "the Kingmaker" in 1469. When Warwick turned against the King, he denounced Herbert and the Duke of Clarence as one of the king's "evil advisers". William Herbert and his brother Richard were executed by Warwick in Northampton, after the Battle of Edgcote, which took place in South Northamptonshire, near Banbury.

William was succeeded by his son, William, (5 March 1451 – 16 July 1491) initially as the 2nd Earl of Pembroke but the earldom was surrendered in 1479 for Edward IV's son and William received the earldom of Huntingdon instead. This was the sixth creation of that title.. He married married Mary Woodville, sister of the Edward IV's queen, Elizabeth Woodville, and they had one child, a daughter, Elizabeth Herbert, (c. 1476 – 27 August 1507). She inherited the barony as 3rd Baroness Herbert and acquired extensive lands in Wales. As her father had no sons, she could succeeded to his barony, but not to the earldom, which was restricted to the male line. She was made a ward of King Henry VII of England, and married Charles Somerset, 1st Earl of Worcester on 2 June 1492. Their only son, Henry, was born in around 1496. In 1504, Somerset was created Baron Herbert. The earldom would however be granted again to the Herbert family in 1551 as the tenth creation to Sir William Herbert, (1501-157) the son of Sir Richard Herbert (died 1510) an illegitimate son of William the 1st Earl. The Herbert family today still retains the earldom of Pembroke.

The story of the Herbert's at this time shows their origins in a tumultuous period of English History. Henry Somerset, 10th Duke of Beaufort and 18th Baron Herbert died childless in 1984. He had two sisters, both of whom died before him.. The younger sister, Lady Diana Maud Nina Somerset (1898-1935) married but had no children. The barony went via the elder sister, Lady Blanche Linnie Somerset (1897–1968) who had married John Granville Cornwallis Eliot, 6th Earl of St Germans and had two daughters, one of whom married Captain John Beeton Seyfried. Her son, David John Seyfried-Herbert, born in 1952, added Herbert to his name and was able to call the barony out of abeyance and succeed as the 19th Baron Herbert. Mother nature takes no heed of heraldry and titles; families both rich and poor can reach a point where they run out of male heirs so this barony has passed through the female line three times in its history.

Sir Richard Herbert, an illegitimate son of William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke (1423-1469) had a son, William Herbert who became the 1st Earl of Pembroke in its 10th creation. In modern times we have William Alexander Sidney Herbert, 18th Earl of Pembroke, 15th Earl of Montgomery (born 1978).

A son of the 8th Earl of Pembroke, was Maj-Gen. Hon. William Herbert (c. 1696 – 31 March 1757), whose son became the 1st Earl of Carnarvon. He inherited Highclere Castle from an uncle which in modern times has achieved fame as "Downton Abbey". The 5th Earl of Carnarvon was the financial backer of Howard Carter, the archaeologist who discovered the tomb of Tutankamun. The 7th Earl was the racing manager for Queen Elizabeth II from 1969 to 2001. Until he succeeded to the earldom he used the subsidary title of Lord Porchester - hence the character Porchey, portrayed in the film series "The Crown".