He spent part of his childhood in the household of William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, who remained his friend.
In his early adult life, he was, like his father and his wife, an ardent Roman Catholic and was presented as a recusant in 1585/86, although, possibly due to Burghley's friendship, he did not suffer any penalty.
He died intestate, and reputedly penniless, at Nonesuch Palace, where he had lived since selling nearby Ewell, on 9 February 1649, and was buried by torchlight in the same grave as his wife.
He married Elizabeth, the daughter and heiress of Richard Blount of London and Williton, Somerset, (her mother Margaret Blount was his stepmother), with whom he had a son, Henry and three daughters, including Isabella,[2] who married Sir Roger Twysden, 2nd Baronet.
Isabella "a lady of rare patience and prudence" kept a diary of the period 1645–51 in which she describes her father's last days.