Studying at Christ Church, Oxford up to 1705 in a milieu of classicist architecture he went on a grand tour in 1712. He was appointed lord of the bedchamber to George II during his time as the prince of Wales. He was made a deputy lieutenant of Worcestershire on 29 January 1715, and was commissioned captain & lieutenant-colonel in the Coldstream Guards on 12 August 1717. On 20 September 1721, he was promoted to the rank of colonel, and made captain & colonel of the 1st Troop of Horse Guards. Upon the accession of George II in 1727, Herbert remained his close associate, and was made first lord of the bedchamber. After acceding to the earldom on 9 January 1733, Pembroke left the Horse Guards and was appointed colonel of The King's Own Regiment of Horse. Later that year, he was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Wiltshire. George II continued to favour Pembroke, who was appointed groom of the stole on 8 January 1735 and sworn a Privy Councillor the next day. However, he proved unsuccessful in his attempts to mediate between George and his son prince Frederick. Though he exercised powerful patronage in Wilton, his local constituency, Pembroke played only a slight role in national politics. of Bath's portrait, For Lord Pembroke at Whitehall, of Mary FitzWilliam, wife of 9th earl of Pembroke, circa 1738. He shared his father's antiquarian tastes, but expressed them through architecture rather than collecting. He is known to have designed seven buildings, two of which are no longer standing, these are the Earl's own house, Pembroke House, Whitehall of 1717, demolished 1756-7 and Wimbledon House 1732-3, Surrey for the Duchess of Marlborough, burnt down in 1785. Opinions of his talents in that area were mixed – Horace Walpole stated that "no man had a purer taste in building" but Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough wrote that the Earl's talent was little more than to "imitate ill whatever was useless" in Inigo Jones and Palladio's buildings Although he designed the Column of Victory at Blenheim Palace erect 1727–30 for the Duchess of Marlborough as a memorial to her late husband. As one of the "architect earls", he collaborated with Roger Morris to design Marble Hill House, the White Lodge, Richmond, and the Palladian Bridge over the little River Nadder at Wilton House. He also designed the water tower at Houghton Hall in the form of a garden temple, with a pedimented portico raised on a high rusticated base. The mason William Townsend executed the Earl's design for the Column of Victory, at Blenheim Palace and the water tower at Houghton Hall. The Earl also inspected Townsend's design of Westcombe House, Blackheath, Kent and as well as parts of the design of Castle Hill, Devon. He also redecorated a few of the rooms in the south front of Wilton House. Though he was uninvolved in its design, he also acted as an energetic promoter of the project to build Westminster Bridge, getting the relevant Act of Parliament through in 1738, laying the first stone in January 1739, attending 120 meetings of the bridge commissioners, and consistently supporting its designer Charles Labelye and his caisson design against long and fierce opposition. Lord Pembroke enjoyed swimming, played tennis every day, generally remained continually active and healthy, and was strong and powerfully built. He seems to have developed asthma and spent some weeks at Bath in winter 1743, during which he experienced breathing difficulties. Pembroke was promoted lieutenant-general on 18 February 1742, and became a Fellow of the Royal Society on 15 December 1743. During the king's trip to Hanover in 1748, he served as one of the Lord Justices. He died at Pembroke House in 1750.
Diet
Herbert attempted to live on a diet of only beetroot and watercress which he kept in a bag wig and used as a knapsack. In 1729, he was seen walking the streets of Paris with his bag wig eating beetroot and watercress at regular intervals. He nearly died because of the diet. He has been described as a "pioneer vegetarian" and a "proto-vegan". James Lees-Milne noted that Herbert "became a fanatical vegetarian to the extent of practically starving himself to death."
Marriage and issue
He and Mary FitzWilliam, married on 28 August 1733. They only had one child, Henry, who inherited his father's earldoms. When the Fitzwilliam family died out in the male line in 1833, the Pembroke family inherited large estates in Dublin; they are still substantial landowners there.
