s accession, acknowledged his kinship and
created him Knight of the Bath. He was a very skilful horseman and
swordsman, and excelled in knightly exercises.

In 1551 he accompanied the Marquis of Southampton to France upon the
mission of the latter to negotiate a marriage between Edward VI. and
Elizabeth, daughter of Henry II. The French King was so well pleased
with him that he offered to retain him in his service. While generous
and brave to an unusual degree, Perrot was extremely hot-tempered and of
an arbitrary disposition. He seems to have inherited all of his father's
mental, moral, and physical attributes in an exaggerated form, and to
have had an ever-present consciousness of his kingly lineage. Money
flowed through his fingers like water; he was rarely out of debt, and
was relieved in this respect by both Edward VI. and Elizabeth. Upon the
accession of Queen Mary, Perrot, though a Protestant, continued in
royal favour; his kinship outweighing his religious disadvantage. He
was, however, never without enemies at Court, created largely by his
high-handed behaviour. During Mary's reign he was accused of sheltering
heretics in his house in Wales, and was, in consequence, committed for a
while to the Fleet, but was soon released. He saw service in France
under the Earl of Pembroke, being present at the capture of St. Quentin.
Later on he had a violent disagreement with his old commander, owing to
his refusal to assist the latter in persecuting Welsh Protestants. A
life-enduring friendship was later established between them by
Pembroke's magnanimity in rallying to his support at a crucial period in
his career. When Protestantism, at a later period, gained the upper hand
under Elizabeth, he was equally averse to the persecution of Catholics.
Elizabeth upon her accession continued the favours shown him by her
predecessors. He was selected as one of four gentlemen to carry the
canopy of state at her Coronation, and was appointed Vice-Admiral of the
seas about South Wales. In 1570 he was made President of Munster, where
he performed his duties in an extremely strenuous manner. He used
deputies only in clerical matters; where there was fighting to be done
he was there in person, and usually in the thick of it. Much as he liked
to command he never could resist being in the actual scrimmage. He
challenged James Fitmaurice Fitzgerald, the rebel leader in Munster, to
single combat, which the latter prudently refused; later on,