In October 1495 Robert Radcliffe's father was attainted of high treason for confederacy with the pretender,
Perkin Warbeck, by which all his honours were forfeited. His life was spared, and he was imprisoned at
Guisnes. After he unsuccessfully attempted to escape, he was beheaded at
Calais about 24 November 1496. Radcliffe's mother was living on 6 July 1518. The date of her death is unknown. In his youth Radcliffe was in the service of
King Henry VII and his then elder son and heir,
Arthur, Prince of Wales, and was present at Arthur's marriage to
Katherine of Aragon on 14 November 1501. Radcliffe's father's attainder was reversed by letters patent dated 3 November 1505, and later by Act of Parliament in 1509, by which Radcliffe became
Baron FitzWalter. On 23 June 1509 he was made a
Knight of the Bath, and on the following day officiated as Lord Sewer at the coronation of
King Henry VIII. In 1515 he was at
Westminster Abbey when
Wolsey received his cardinal's hat. Radcliffe served in the
vanguard under
George Talbot, 4th Earl of Shrewsbury, in the invasion of France in 1513, and was at the sieges of
Therouanne and
Tournai. In June 1520 he attended Henry VIII at the
Field of the Cloth of Gold and at his meetings with the
Emperor Charles V in July 1520 and May 1522. In 1521 he served at sea as admiral of a squadron, and was chief captain of the vanguard under the
Earl of Surrey when the English forces landed at
Morlaix on 1 July and campaigned in
Picardy from 30 August to 14 October. On 7 May 1524 he was installed as a Knight of the
Order of the Garter, and on 18 July 1525, at the creation of Henry VIII's illegitimate son,
Henry FitzRoy, as
Duke of Richmond, Radcliffe was created
Viscount Fitzwalter. Further honours and appointments followed. Radcliffe was a member of the
Privy Council before 2 February 1526, was created
Earl of Sussex on 8 December 1529, appointed Lieutenant of the
Order of the Garter on 7 May 1531, and appointed as a
Chamberlain of the Exchequer for life on 3 June 1532. Archbold states that Sussex was for a long period "in very confidential relations" with Henry VIII, and is of the view that it was with the King's knowledge that Sussex proposed to the Privy Council on 6 June 1536 that the King should advance his illegitimate son,
Henry FitzRoy, to the crown ahead of
Princess Mary, the King's daughter by Katherine of Aragon. Sussex also took the King's part on the divorce issue. He served as Lord Sewer at the coronation of Queen
Anne Boleyn on 1 June 1533, and on 2 December 1533 was among the commissioners who took Henry VIII's demands concerning the divorce to Katherine of Aragon. After the
Pilgrimage of Grace, Sussex was commissioned, together with
Edward Stanley, 3rd Earl of Derby, to restore order in
Lancashire, and as a reward for his services was granted the manor of Cleeve in
Somerset. On 23 June 1537 he was granted the
reversion of the office of
Lord Steward of the Royal Household, although when the current holder,
George Talbot, 4th Earl of Shrewsbury, died in the following year he was succeeded, not by Sussex, but by the King's brother-in-law,
Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk. In 1539 Sussex was one of the commissioners appointed to defend the
Thames and the coast of
Essex. On 3 January 1540, he attended Henry VIII at the reception of
Anne of Cleves at Blackheath. On 9 March of the same year he was appointed to inquire into the situation in
Calais, and after the disgrace and recall to England of
Arthur Plantagenet, 1st Viscount Lisle, had charge of Calais from 17 April until July. On 3 August 1540 he was granted a lifetime appointment as
Lord Great Chamberlain. Robert Radcliffe died at
Chelsea on 28 November 1542 and was buried at
Boreham, Essex. ==Marriages and issue==