Shire, Coke had the right to appear in court dressed "in his boots" as opposed to in formal court dress; this he did, appearing in front of George III dressed in leather breeches, boots and spurs. Eventually, the king began negotiations with the American colonies and accepted the resignation of Lord North – an action which would, eventually, lead to Coke leaving Parliament. A new government was formed in April 1782, with Lord Rockingham as Prime Minister and Fox and Lord Shelburne as Secretaries of State. Rockingham and Shelburne disagreed constantly, particularly over the situation in North America, and with Rockingham's death on 1 July Shelburne was made Prime Minister. At this the rest of the government resigned, and after a period of political chaos, the short-lived Fox-North Coalition was formed in April 1783. Coke was disgusted by this arrangement, describing it as a "revolting compact". An East India Bill, which created 7 commissioners to oversee India, brought chaos to the coalition. Controversially, the commissioners would be appointed by the government, not by the crown, which challenged what the King saw as his constitutional right. Defeated in the House of Lords, the bill was used by George III to overturn Fox's government and install a government led by William Pitt the Younger. Parliament was eventually dissolved on 25 March 1784, and thanks to Coke's long-standing support of Fox and his actions, the ensuing general election led to Coke losing his seat. Norfolk work In between his Parliamentary work, Coke and his wife had been maintaining and improving his estates since they took possession of it in April 1776. The cornerstone was Holkham House, a "temple to the arts" built by Coke's great uncle. Knowing that he did not have the same understanding of classical architecture and art, Coke mainly left it alone, instead focusing on the park and gardens. The grounds had been laid out during the 1720s and 1730s, in a design which quickly became seen as old-fashioned. Coke had the lake massively expanded, shifting a total of 36,000 cubic yards of earth, and employed the gardener John Sandys from 1781. Sandys created several large pieces of woodland, planting over 7,000 trees on 22 acres near the Eastern Lodge, another ten acres near the lake, and four acres of marshland. In 1784 a further woodland expansion was undertaken, with 40 acres and 11,000 trees, and between 1785 and 1789