[1] Earl Temple, as he was known in his father's lifetime, was elected Member of Parliament for Buckinghamshire in 1797.

[2] In 1806, he was made a Privy Counsellor[3] and appointed Vice-President of the Board of Trade and Joint Paymaster of the Forces in the Ministry of All the Talents headed by his uncle, Lord Grenville.

[5] He returned to ministerial office in July 1830 when he was made Lord Steward of the Household,[6] but only held the post for a short while.

Buckingham also owned a plantation in Jamaica and 10,482 acres (42.42 km2) in Britain, including thirty-eight properties in the Old Nichol.

[7] Nicknames such as "Lord Grenville's fat nephew", Ph D (Phat Duke), and the "gros Marquis", attested to his size and unpopularity.