He was the second son of Philip Herbert, 4th Earl of Pembroke, and his first wife Susan de Vere.

[1] In February 1632 he appeared with his elder brother Charles in the masque Tempe Restored at Whitehall Palace.

[6][5] At the coronation of Charles II he was Bearer of the Golden Spurs and Lord Cupbearer.

[5] After the Restoration he was active in the Council for Trade, Fishery Corporation and the Royal Africa Company.

[6] He had been raised in a family sympathetic to Puritanism[7] and himself became a Quaker[8] According to Pepys, he had an idiosyncratic interpretation of the doctrine of Original Sin.