On 9 February 1608 he performed in the masque The Hue and Cry After Cupid at Whitehall Palace as a sign of the zodiac, to celebrate the wedding of John Ramsay, Viscount Haddington to Elizabeth Radclyffe.

The members of this extensive list were "incorporated by the name of The Tresorer and Companie of Adventurers and Planters of the Citty of London for the Firste Collonie in Virginia".

He was elected MP for Maldon in a by-election in 1605 caused by the death of Sir Edward Lewknor and sat until he was ennobled in 1610 as Baron Howard de Walden by a Writ of Acceleration.

After a visit to Stirling Castle, he stayed a night at the Nether Palace or Castlestead of Falkland with Lord Scone, and returned by boat to Leith and the King's Wark, the home of Bernard Lindsay.

Howard discussed the deal with the Spanish ambassador Diego Sarmiento de Acuña, Count of Gondomar.