scheme, Wilmot made an unauthorized contact with the Earl of Essex who was the parliamentarian commander-in-chief, to see if a peace could be arranged. The king was easily persuaded by Digby and Culpeper that Wilmot's actions were treasonable. Wilmot was arrested on 8 August 1644, stripped of all his offices, and incarcerated in Exeter. His popularity within the army led many of its officers to petition on his behalf and eventually to placate them, all charges against Wilmot were dropped on the understanding that he would retire overseas. Wilmot went to France, to join the exiled court of his old patron Queen Henrietta Maria. Three years later, when Digby arrived in Paris, the dispute between the men was neither forgotten nor forgiven and they fought a duel. Wilmot was defeated with a stab through the hand. Third Civil War After Charles I was executed in January 1649, Wilmot became a gentleman of the bedchamber of King Charles II. He was greatly trusted by Charles II, whose defeat at the Battle of Worcester and subsequent wanderings Wilmot shared. During these, whereas the king adopted a series of disguises (often as a servant), Wilmot disdained disguise and declined to travel on foot. He and the king ultimately escaped to France six weeks after the battle, having spent the intervening time in hiding in various places. Interregnum During this King's exile, he was one of his principal advisers, being created by him Earl of Rochester in 1652. In the interests of Charles, he visited the emperor Ferdinand III, Nicholas II, Duke of Lorraine, and Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg. In March 1655, he was in England, where he led an unsuccessful attempt at a rising on Marston Moor, near York as part of the Sealed Knot Penruddock uprising. The York uprising was put down by Colonel Robert Lilburne Governor of York and on its failure, Wilmot fled the country. In April 1656 along with the Duke of Ormonde he signed the Treaty of Brussels, which secured an alliance between the exiled Royalists and the Spanish King. In 1656, Wilmot obtained command of an English foot regiment in the royalist army in Bruges, thus becoming the first colonel of the Grenadier Guards. The unhealthy and overcrowded conditions of the regiment's quarters in the winter of 1657–58 caused many in it to fall sick, including its commander. Wilmot died at Sluys on 19 February and