seat of Norfolk, with his son asked to stand in his place for Derby. Coke was not particularly enthusiastic about this, and withdrew when his opponent discovered he was under 21, the requisite age to stand for Parliament. With his father elected, Coke travelled with him to London, meeting members of the British high society. His sister Elizabeth and her husband James Dutton were also visiting, with Dutton's sister Jane, and Coke fell in love with her. Wenman was not impressed when Coke asked him to let them be married, as he had picked out the daughter of a baronet for his son, but with the intercession of Wenman's friend Harbord Harbord, he finally consented to their marriage, which was solemnized on 5 October 1775. The new couple lived in Godwick Manor, their peace disturbed in 1776 when Wenman's health began to fail. He finally died on 10 April after "a constipation which medicine could not remove", leaving Coke in charge of a 30,000-acre estate at the age of 22. Soon after his father's death, Harbord and other senior Whigs visited Coke and asked him to stand for Norfolk in his father's stead. Coke was not enthusiastic, not seeing himself as a politician and hoping to enjoy his new estates and wealth, but after his visitors pointed out a Tory might otherwise replace him "my blood chilled all over me from my head to my foot, and I came forward". On 12 April he issued a manifesto to the Norfolk electorate, soon returning to campaign, and after being unanimously nominated on 27 April he was elected in May. Entry to Parliament Little is known of Coke's early career in Parliament; he spoke relatively infrequently, and the parliamentary session was dissolved soon after his election. During that summer, however, he struck up a relationship with Charles James Fox, a soon-to-be famous Whig politician noted for his outspoken and flamboyant lifestyle. Coke later recounted that "When I first went into Parliament I attached myself to Fox and clung to him through life. I lived in the closest bond of friendship with him." The period was one of economic stability and political calm under Lord North, which ended due to the American Revolution and resulting American Revolutionary War. Coke was noted for his support of the American colonists; as a strong supporter of the 1688 Glorious Revolution and the resulting Bill of Rights