Knighted in 1626, he appears to have had little interest in politics, and after inheriting the estates and titles of his father in 1634, he retired to the life of a country gentleman in South Wales.

He became a literary patron later in his career, hosting the Anglican theologian Jeremy Taylor at his seat, Golden Grove (Gelli Aur), and the poet Samuel Butler, during his time as constable of Ludlow Castle.

He maintained a low profile in politics, and at the outset of the Civil War, his loyalties were sufficiently ambiguous for him to be courted as a supporter by both King and Parliament.

Parliament appointed him lord lieutenant of Carmarthenshire and Cardiganshire in February 1642 and assigned to him the task of executing the militia ordinance in those counties.

[3] As a reward for his loyalty, on 4 April Charles appointed Carbery lieutenant-general of Carmarthenshire, Cardiganshire and Pembrokeshire and sent him to secure the counties for the king.

[2][3] This presented little difficulty in Carmarthenshire and Cardiganshire, as both were royalist leaning, but in Pembrokeshire the seaports of Tenby and Pembroke had active Parliamentarian sympathies.

[3] By October 1643 Charles had negotiated a peace to end the Irish Rebellion of 1641, and was seeking to transfer his army in Ireland back to England to support his campaigns there.

Lacking any experience or natural aptitude as a soldier, he was limited to calling out his militia and laying siege to Pembroke, hoping to blockade the town into surrender.

Carbery was assigned as Gerard's adviser, and returned to Wales in May 1644, but seems to have retired from any active role in military operations for the rest of the war.

Sir John Meyrick and the Earl of Essex argued on his behalf, and on 16 February 1646 the House of Commons decided to cancel the fine, a decision formalised and completed by 9 April 1647.

[3][8] Carbery largely retired into private life, refusing to support the revolt against Parliament in South Wales in April and May 1648, led by his former enemies Laugharne and Poyer, in conjunction with many of the region's Royalists.

During this period they played host to the Anglican writer and theologian Jeremy Taylor, who wrote many of his most notable works, including The Great Exemplar and Golden Grove while staying with Carbery.

[2][3][11] The Dictionary of National Biography notes an earlier death date recorded in Narcissus Luttrell's A Brief Historical Relation of State Affairs from September 1678 to April 1714, p. 379.