Before ascending to the peerage, Lord Arundel had served as Member of Parliament for Arundel in the Parliament of England from 1628 until 1629, and again in 1640. He also represented Callan in the Parliament of Ireland in 1634. He had been due to inherit his mothers peerage (Baron Furnivall), but he pre-deceased her and upon her death in 1654 it was inherited by his eldest son Thomas.