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 Chauvelin, left no stone unturned to exasperate him against the English. Chauvelin did not hesitate at intrigues with the Pretender, of which the secret was revealed by his own carelessness, for having on one occasion some papers to hand to the English ambassador, he added by mistake one of James's letters to himself. This Waldegrave promptly despatched by a special messenger to England (to the Duke of Newcastle, 11 Oct. 1736). Walpole recommended the administering of a bribe of 5,000l. to 10,000l. (the smaller sum, he observed, would make a good many French livres). Nothing came of this; but a few months later Waldegrave had the satisfaction of seeing Chauvelin dismissed (February 1737;, Diplom. Française, 1811, v. 75). Nevertheless, as the tension increased between England and Spain, Waldegrave's position grew more difficult. He described it as that of a bird upon a perch, and wondered it could last in the way it did. His former popularity reached vanishing point when he cracked a joke upon the French marine. Yet even after the declaration of war between England and Spain in October 1739 he had to stay on at Versailles, for Fleury still hesitated to break with England, and talked vaguely of arbitration; and matters continued in this unsettled state until the death of the emperor, Charles VI, on 20 Oct. 1740, which made a great European war inevitable. Shortly after this event, however, Waldegrave had to consult his health by returning to England. After his departure, until the rupture of diplomatic relations, business was carried on by his former chaplain, Antony Thompson, as chargé d'affaires. Thompson remained at the French capital until March 1744; in the following September he was created dean of Raphoe, and held that preferment until his death on 9 Oct. 1756 (, Fasti Eccl. Hib. iii. 363, v. 265; Walpole Corresp. i. 261, 295).

Waldegrave died of dropsy on 11 April 1741 at Navestock. There is a catholic story, ‘repeatedly heard from a gentleman of most retentive memory and unimpeachable veracity,’ that on his deathbed he put his hand on his tongue and exclaimed, to the terror of the bystanders, ‘This bit of red rag has been my damnation,’ alluding to the oath of abjuration (, Collections, pp. 69, 70). He was buried in the chancel of Navestock church, and a monument was afterwards erected to him there on the north side of the chancel by his daughter-in-law, who became Duchess of Gloucester [see ]. The first earl left two sons—James, second earl [q. v.], and John—successively Earls Waldegrave, and a daughter Henrietta, born on 2 Jan. 1716–17, who married on 7 July 1734 Edward Herbert, brother of the Marquis of Powys; becoming a widow, she married, secondly, in 1738–9, John Beard, the leading singer at Covent Garden Theatre, of which he was also for a time a patentee. Lord Nugent wrote of the ‘foolish match’ that ‘made so much ado, and ruined her and Beard’ (New Foundling Hospital for Wit, 1784). Lady Henrietta died on 31 May 1753.

Waldegrave was highly esteemed by Walpole and by George II, who conferred the Garter upon him on 20 Feb. 1738 (cf. Castle Howard Papers, p. 193). Despite his lack of personal advantages, he was held to be most skilful in patiently foiling an adversary ‘without disobliging him;’ and, far from suspecting him of any concealed Jacobitism, Walpole confided in him more than in any other foreign ambassador, with the exception of his brother. He conducted himself in his embassies, says Coxe, with consummate address, and ‘particularly distinguished himself by obtaining secret information in times of emergency. His letters do honour to his diplomatic talents, and prove sound sense, an insinuating address, and elegant manners.’ Waldegrave built for himself the seat of Navestock Hall, near Romford, but this building was pulled down in 1811. Of the great mass of Waldegrave's diplomatic correspondence now preserved among the Additional (Pelham) manuscripts at the British Museum, the more important part is thus distributed: Addit. MSS. 23627, 32687–32802 passim (correspondence with the Duke of Newcastle, 1731–9); Addit. 23780–4 (with Sir Thomas Robinson, 1730–9); Addit. 27732 (with Lord Essex, 1732–6); Addit. 32754–801 (with Sir Benjamin Keene, 1728–1739); Addit. 32754, 32775 (with Cardinal Fleury, 1728–31); Addit. 32775–85 (with Lord Harrington, 1731–4); Addit. 32785–32792 (with Horatio Walpole, 1734–6).

[Harl. MSS. 381, 1154, and 5816 (Waldegrave family pedigree, arms, monuments, &c.); Addit. MS. 19154; Collins's Peerage, iv. 244; Doyle's Official Baronage; Gent. Mag. 1741, p. 221; Edmondson's Baronagium Genealogicum, iii. 233; Herald and Genealogist, iii. 424; Morant's Essex, ii. 232, 318, 592; Wright's Essex, ii. 735; Gibson's Lydiate Hall, 1876, p. 317; Foley's Records of the English College, v. 382; Waldegrave's Memoirs, 1821, pp. vi, vii; Coxe's Memoirs of Walpole, i. 347 seq.; Mémoires du Marquis d'Argenson, 1857, vol. ii.; Filon's Alliance Anglaise, Orleans, 1860; Dangeau's Journal, ed. 1854, ii. 234, 390, iii. 58, v. 134, 172, 303; Wolseley's Life of Marlborough, i. 37; Armstrong's Elisabeth Farnese, 1892, p. 357; Baudrillart's Philippe V et la Cour de France, 1889;