Gardiner described the first Earl of Denbigh, William Feilding, as "the plain country gentleman who had the good luck to marry Buckingham's sister in the days of her poverty.

In 1622, not only was Feilding made Earl of Denbigh, but his second son, named George after his important uncle, was given the right to the earldom of Desmond at the point that title reverted to the Crown.

From around 1656,[5] a story began to be promulgated that the Feilding family were descended from the imperial Habsburg dynasty through the Counts of Laufenburg and Rheinfelden.

The family incorporated the Habsburg double headed eagle in their coat of arms[6] and took to naming their sons Rudolph.

The claimed imperial ancestry was subject to ridicule, but was also widely accepted for centuries by historians including Edward Gibbon, William Dugdale, and Evelyn Shirley.

[6][7][5]Sir William Feilding was Master of the Great Wardrobe under King James I and also took part in the Expedition to Cádiz of 1625.

Basil served as ambassador to Venice, and in military service to the Holy Roman Empire.

In 1664, he was created Baron St Liz in the Peerage of England, with remainder to the heirs male of his father.

Rudolph, the eighth earl, was a notable member of the Oxford Movement and converted to Roman Catholicism.