This meant that, as his heir, William acquired the courtesy title Lord Howard of Effingham.
It seems that all concerned mistakenly believed that this disqualified him from sitting in the House of Commons,[1] and his younger brother, Charles, was elected to replace him and sat for Surrey throughout the Parliament.
In 1603, he was summoned to the House of Lords in his father's barony by a writ of acceleration, and sat as a peer until his death.
Both the Earldom and barony were therefore eventually inherited by his younger brother, and William is not considered by some sources to have succeeded as 3rd Baron Howard of Effingham.
Ann Howard, Lady Effingham played the part of "Psychrote" in The Masque of Blackness in January 1605.