| Honorific Prefix: | The Right Honorable |
| The Earl of Arundel | |
| Honorific Suffix: | PC(Ire) |
| Spouse: | Lady Elizabeth Stuart |
| Issue: | 12, including: Thomas Howard, 5th Duke of Norfolk Henry Howard, 6th Duke of Norfolk Lord Philip Howard Lord Charles Howard Lord Bernard Howard |
| Noble Family: | Howard |
| Father: | Thomas Howard, 14th Earl of Arundel |
| Mother: | Alethea Talbot |
| Birth Date: | 15 August 1608 |
| Burial Place: | Arundel Castle, Arundel, West Sussex, England |
Henry Frederick Howard, 15th Earl of Arundel PC(Ire) (15 August 160817 April 1652), styled Lord Maltravers until 1640, and Baron Mowbray from 1640 until 1652, was an English nobleman, chiefly remembered for his role in the development of the rule against perpetuities.
Arundel was the second son of Thomas Howard, 14th Earl of Arundel, and Lady Alethea Talbot, later 13th Baroness Furnivall. His grandmother Anne, the dowager Countess of Arundel, arranged for Henry to be baptised and christened as "Frederick Henry" at Woodstock Palace in October 1608 with Queen Anne as godmother. The Queen's children Henry and Elizabeth were also present.[1]
He studied at St John's College, Cambridge, matriculating in 1624.[2]
Before ascending to the peerage, Lord Arundel had served as Member of Parliament for Arundel in the Parliament of England from 1628 until 1629. He was again elected to represent Arundel in March 1640, but was called to the House of Lords by writ of acceleration as Baron Mowbray, one of his father's subsidiary titles, before he could take his seat. He also represented Callan in the Parliament of Ireland in 1634.
After his father's death in 1646, he became Earl of Arundel and the titular head of the Howard family. He had been due to inherit his mother's peerage (Baron Furnivall), but he pre-deceased her and upon her death in 1654 it was inherited by his eldest son Thomas.
Henry sought to control the succession to his property after his death. Toward that end, he placed in his will a shifting executory limitation so that title to some property would pass to his eldest son (who was mentally deficient) and then to his second son, and title to other property would pass to his second son, and then to his fourth son. The estate plan also included provisions for shifting the titles many generations later if certain conditions should occur.
When his second son, Henry, succeeded to the elder brother's property, he did not want to pass the other property to his younger brother, Charles. Charles sued to enforce his interest, and the court (in this instance, the House of Lords) held that such a shifting condition could not exist indefinitely. The judges believed that tying up property too long beyond the lives of people living at the time was wrong, although the exact period was not determined for another 150 years.[3]
Lord Arundel married Lady Elizabeth Stuart, daughter of Esme Stuart, 3rd Duke of Lennox, on 7 March 1626. They had nine sons (10 on list below?) and three daughters:
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