In 1569, he joined the Earl of Sussex, taking his tenants with him, and held a command in the army which suppressed the northern insurrection.

In the grand tilting match of 1580, Rutland and twelve others contended with a similar number, headed by Essex, before the queen at Westminster.

His style of living was very expensive; when he went with his countess to London in about 1586 he had with him forty-one servants, including a chaplain, trumpeter, gardener, and apothecary.

[1] He bought a brooch with an agate stone engraved with a portrait of Elizabeth I and set around with 53 diamonds from Peter Vanlore.

[2] In June 1586, with Lord Eure and Randolph, he arranged a treaty of peace with the Scots at Berwick, and his brother Roger wrote that his conduct had been approved by the court.

The queen promised to make him lord chancellor after the death of Sir Thomas Bromley, which took place on 12 April 1587, and he was for a day or two so styled.

By his wife he had one child and sole heiress: He died on Good Friday at Puddle Wharf in the City of London, and was brought home for burial in Bottesford Church, Leicestershire, where his monument survives.

Countess Isabel, daughter of Sir Thomas Holcroft, KT, wears a ruff with the usual dress of the time under an ermine-trimmed mantle, her head supported by a cushion.