by Daniel Mytens and Gerard van Honthorst. As the build-up to the Palatinate campaign of 1620 began, Carleton realised the great limitations of the diplomatic line he had been pursuing and the influence he had: Maurice and James had quite different intentions concerning Frederick V, Elector Palatine, who was nephew (respectively son-in-law) to the two men. Maurice, in crude terms, was happy to have war over the border in Germany tying up the Spanish, while James wanted peace. Frederick did as Maurice wished in claiming the crown of Bohemia, was heavily defeated in the Battle of White Mountain and set off the Thirty Years' War, and lost the Palatinate. It was in Carleton's house at The Hague that Frederick and his queen Elizabeth of Bohemia took refuge in 1621. Carleton returned to England in 1625 with George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, and was made Vice-Chamberlain of the Household and a privy councillor. In both Houses Shortly afterwards he took part in an abortive mission to France in favour of the Huguenots and to inspire a league against the House of Habsburg. On his return in 1626 he found the attention of Parliament, to which he had been elected for Hastings, completely occupied with the attack on Buckingham. Carleton endeavoured to defend his patron, and supported the king's exercise of royal prerogative. On 12 May he warned that the king if thwarted might follow "new counsels". His further career in the Commons was cut short by his elevation in May to the peerage as Baron Carleton of Imber Court. In the debate over Roger Maynwaring he put the argument that the book being complained of should not be burned, in case the king was offended. Shortly afterwards he was dispatched on another mission to The Hague, on return from which he was created Viscount Dorchester in July 1628. He was active in forwarding the conferences between Buckingham and Contarini for a peace with France on the eve of Buckingham's intended departure for La Rochelle, which was prevented by the Duke's assassination. The Personal Rule In December 1628 Dorchester was made principal Secretary of State, making him a leading figure of the Personal Rule of Charles I. He worked with the efficient bureaucrat Sir John Coke, a master of the paperwork but deliberately excluded from the more arcane foreign negotiations. Dorchester came to full responsibility for matters of foreign policy. He