Strafford's attainder, and was, in consequence, proclaimed a "betrayer of his country." He had been Captain of the St Martin-in-the-Fields company of the Westminster Trained Bands but was among the Royalist officers purged from the regiment on 24 January 1642 after a dispute over guarding the Houses of Parliament. On 15 February 1642, he was voted one of the dangerous counsellors, and specially excepted from pardon on 4 October and in the treaties of peace negotiated subsequently, while on 10 March 1643 he was excluded from parliament. Abroad Porter was also implicated in the army plot; he assisted Glamorgan in illegally putting the great seal to the commission to negotiate with the Irish in 1644, and was charged with having, in the same manner, affixed the great seal of Scotland, then temporarily in his keeping, to that of O'Neill in 1641, and of having incurred some responsibility for the Irish rebellion. Towards the end of 1645, when the king's cause was finally lost, Porter abandoned England, and resided successively in France, Brussels and Antwerp, where he was reduced to great poverty, and the Netherlands. The property which he had accumulated during the tenure of his various appointments, by successful commercial undertakings and by favours of the court, was now for the most part either confiscated or encumbered. He returned to England in 1649, after the king's death, and was allowed to compound for what remained of it. He died shortly afterwards, and was buried on 10 August 1649 at St Martin-in-the-Fields, leaving as a special charge in his will to his sons and descendants to "observe and respect the family of my Lord Duke of Buckingham, deceased, to whom I owe all the happiness I had in the world". He left five sons, George, James, Charles, Philip and Thomas, who all played conspicuous, if not all creditable, parts in the history of the time. Arts According to Wood, Porter was "beloved by two kings: James I for his admirable wit and Charles I for his general bearing, brave style, sweet temper, great experience, travels and modern languages". During the period of his prosperity, Porter had gained a great reputation in the world of art and letters. He wrote verses, was a generous patron of Davenant, who especially sang his praises, of Dekker, May, Herrick and Robert Dover, and was included among the 84 "essentials" in Edmund Bolton's "Academy Royal." He