While in Paris, he sent the government valuable information about the developing Jacobite plot, and in 1716, he returned to Britain, resumed his seat and became known as a skilled yet tactful debater. When King George I quarrelled with his son, the Prince of Wales (George II) the same year, Lord Stanhope remained politically faithful to the Prince but was careful not to break with the King's party. However, his continued friendly correspondence with the Prince's mistress, Henrietta Howard, later Countess of Suffolk, earned Chesterfield the personal hatred of the Prince's wife, Princess Caroline of Ansbach. In 1723, he was voted Captain of the Gentlemen Pensioners. In January 1725, on the revival of the Order of the Bath, the red ribbon was offered to him, but Chesterfield declined the honour.