Howard’s paternal grandfather, Thomas Howard, 4th duke of Norfolk, was attainted and executed in 1572 for his involvement in the Ridolfi Plot. Norfolk’s son and heir, Lord Thomas Howard, was restored in blood in December 1584 and, with the patronage of his cousin the lord high admiral, Lord Effingham (Charles Howard†), pursued a distinguished naval career. Seated at his Essex residence of Audley End, on his Saffron Walden estate, Lord Thomas was summoned to Parliament in 1597 by writ as Lord Howard de Walden. On the accession of James I he was appointed lord chamberlain and created earl of Suffolk. Howard himself was baptized at Audley End four months after his father’s rehabilitation in 1584, at which ceremony the queen was named as his godmother.41 E351/542, f. 71v. We are grateful to Paul Hammer for this reference. His education followed the conventional pattern by then established for wealthy young noblemen: after attending university he toured the Continent, visiting Paris, Naples and even Rome, which was normally forbidden. As a direct descendant of the Catholic duke of Norfolk his appearance on the Continent attracted the attention of a former servant of Mary, Queen of Scots, who endeavoured unsuccessfully to lure him into negotiations with several leading Catholic exiles, most notably Jane Dormer, duchess of Feria. During his return journey in the autumn of 1604 he called on the duke of Lorraine at Nancy, who gave him a letter of compliment for King James.42 Stoye, 41-2.
Howard arrived back in England in February 1605. An athletic young man, it was rumoured that he would soon join his father at Court and displace the 25-year-old 3rd earl of Pembroke in the king’s affections.43 Winwood’s Memorials ed. E. Sawyer, ii. 48. Plans were therefore made for him to join the embassy which was to be sent to Madrid to ratify the Treaty of London.44 Chamberlain Letters, i. 205; NLW, Carreglwyd ms I/699. In the event, however, Pembroke’s position proved safe, and Howard, who subsequently participated in the Accession Day tilt (24 Mar.) and journeyed to Windsor to witness the earl of Northampton’s investiture as knight of the Garter (16 May), sent his younger brother (Sir) Thomas in his stead.45 HMC Hatfield, xvii. 107; Add. 34218, f. 87; Harl. Misc. iii. 424. In the following August he accompanied James to Oxford, where he was awarded an honorary MA.46 Nichols, i. 555. Thereafter he became a regular participant in sporting events at Court and performed in several wedding entertainments, including Ben Jonson’s ‘Masque of Hymen’ in January 1606, which celebrated the marriage of his sister Frances to the 3rd earl of Essex.47 HMC Hatfield, xvii. 594; Nichols, ii. 5, 106, 108, 186. In April 1606 his father appointed him lieutenant of the band of gentleman pensioners, thereby giving him his first taste of office. Suffolk subsequently arranged for Howard to marry the six-year old daughter of the earl of Dunbar, chancellor of the Exchequer, when she reached the age of 12. An ambitious attempt to win the hand of Princess Elizabeth had earlier been vetoed by Prince Henry, while a planned journey to France to court the daughter of the Constable of France in the spring of 1606 was apparently abandoned.48 Autobiog. of Sir Simonds D’Ewes ed. J.O. Halliwell, i. 48; CSP Dom. 1603-10, p. 308. In Nov. 1605 Sir Edward Hoby* reported a rumour that Howard was about to marry Lady Anne Clifford: T. Birch, Ct. and Times of Jas. I, i. 34.
Howard’s absence abroad in 1604 had prevented him from seeking a seat in the first Jacobean Parliament, but a fresh opportunity arose in October 1605 following the death of the Member for Maldon, Sir Edward Lewknor I. Howard’s path was smoothed by the Privy Council, whose letter of nomination persuaded his main rival for the seat, the popular local gentleman Sir John Sammes*, to withdraw. Howard evidently did not trouble to attend the hustings in person, as Maldon’s bailiffs were obliged to send their town clerk to London to swear him in as a freeman.49 HMC Hatfield, xvii. 455, 469. Once in the Commons, Howard played only a minor role in its proceedings. There is no record that he ever spoke, although the arrest of his solicitor may have prompted an unrecorded intervention,50 CD 1628, iii. 148, 160. and he was appointed to just five committees and two conferences. His social status ensured that, except where privy councillors were also included, his name headed the membership lists of each of the committees to which he was named. These concerned the observance of the Sabbath (29 Jan. 1606), subsidies (10 Feb. 1606), the possessions of the late Lord Chandos of Sudeley (7 Apr. 1606), Cheshunt vicarage (12 Dec. 1606) and clerical pluralism and non-residence (4 Mar. 1607).51 CJ, i. 261b, 266b, 294b, 330a, 347b. The two joint conferences with the Lords to which he was nominated were to consider the execution of the recusancy laws (3 Feb. 1606) and the Union (24 Nov. 1606); in both cases he was named after Lord Buckhurst (Robert Sackville).52 Ibid. 263a, 324b. An uneventful career in the Commons was cut short on 8 Feb. 1610 when he was summoned to the Upper House as Lord Howard de Walden.53 Egerton Pprs. ed. J. Collier (Cam. Soc. xii), 441-2; CJ, i. 329b.
Howard was appointed captain of the band of gentlemen pensioners in 1614, a position he came close to forfeiting following the spectacular fall from office of his father in 1618. An ally of the duke of Buckingham during the 1620s, he succeeded to his father’s title in 1626, and was made lord warden of the Cinque Ports in 1628. In 1635 a combination of ill health and political pressure forced him to surrender the captaincy of the gentlemen pensioners, while mounting debts obliged him to sell much of his estate and retire from the Court. Described by one historian as ‘a spendthrift on a monumental scale’, he died intestate in June 1640 owing more than £132,000.54 L. Stone, Fam. and Fortune, 285-9; L. Stone, Crisis of the Aristocracy, 779. Letters of administration were granted in February 1641 to one of his creditors rather than to his son and heir James, the 3rd earl.55 PCC Admons. 1631-48 ed. M. Fitch (Brit. Rec. Soc. c), vi. 400.