 In 1649, although a peer, he was elected and took his seat in the House of Commons as member for Berkshire, this "ascent downwards" calling forth many satirical writings from the royalist wits.The Earl was a great collector of pictures and had some taste for architecture.His eldest surviving son, Philip (1621–1669), became 5th Earl of Pembroke, and 2nd Earl of Montgomery; he was twice married, and was succeeded in turn by three of his sons, of whom Phillip, the 7th Earl, was notorious for bouts of homicidal mania, while Thomas, the 8th Earl (c. 1656–1733), was a person of note during the reigns of William III and Anne.