William Brooke , 10th Baron Cobham See Baron Cobham for other simultaneous creations of the title . William Brooke , 10th Baron Cobham ( 1527 - 1597 ) was Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports , and and a Member of Parliament for Hythe . Although he was viewed by some as a religious radical during the Somerset protectorate , he entertained Elizabeth at Cobham Hall in 1559 , signalling his acceptance of the moderate regime . His father died in 1558 when William was just over thirty . Brooke married Dorothy Neville in 1545 , but the marriage was unhappy , and they separated after 1553 . Brooke seems to have attended The King 's School , Canterbury and Queens ' College , Cambridge before 1544 . He spent much of his younger life in Europe . In the early 1540s he visited Padua . At the end of the decade he served in northern France , where his father was in charge of Calais and in 1549 accompanied Paget 's embassy to Brussels . Like his father , Brooke sympathized with the anti-Marian nobles ; he sided with the rebels during Wyatt 's rebellion , and the intervention of his father-in-law , Henry Nevill was needed to keep him from prison . For the last years of Mary 's reign he served as MP for Rochester . In the late 1550s , Brooke 's opportunities expanded in a number of areas . His father died , making him Baron Cobham ; his first wife died , leaving him free to marry Frances Newton ( at Whitehall in 1560 ) . He became Warden of the Cinque Ports , a position in which he wielded great power over a large number of seats in Parliament . Most important , the accession of Elizabeth , and his close friendship with William Cecil made him a powerful noble . Elizabeth deputed him to inform Philip II of Mary 's death . This embassy was only the first in a long series of missions and intrigues . Along with Cecil , he numbered among his friends some nobles , such as Thomas Howard and the Earl of Arundel , whose loyalty to Elizabeth was far from certain . He suffered some months ' house imprisonment as a result of a very tangential role in the Ridolfi plot . In 1578 , he joined Francis Walsingham 's failed mission to the Low Countries ; on this mission he presumably served as Cecil 's agent . In the late 1580s , he helped John Whitgift search for the author of the Martin Marprelate tracts . Brooke became a member of the Privy Council in 1586 , the year after he joined the Order of the Garter . He was involved in a minor capacity in the events that ended with the death of Mary Queen of Scots . During the Armada crisis , he was on a diplomatic mission to Alexander Farnese , Duke of Parma . By the early 1590s he had assumed a less active role in government . His daughter married Robert Cecil in 1589 . His second wife died in 1592 . In 1596 , he was named Lord Chamberlain on the death of Baron Hunsdon ; he died in March 1597 . Preceded by : Sir Thomas Seymour Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports 1558–1597 Succeeded by : The Lord Cobham Preceded by : ? Lord Lieutenant of Kent 1585–1597 Preceded by : The Lord Hunsdon Lord Chamberlain 1596–1597 Succeeded by : The Lord Hunsdon Preceded by : George Brooke Baron Cobham 1558–1597 Succeeded by : Henry Brooke This biography of a baron in the peerage of England is a stub . You can help Wikipedia by expanding it . Categories : Barons in the Peerage of England | Lords Warden of the Cinque Ports | Tudor people | Alumni of Queens ' College , Cambridge | Peerage of England baron stubs Lord Chamberlain The Lord Hunsdon The Lord Hunsdon 1596–1597 Baron Cobham George Brooke Henry Brooke 1558–1597 