Edwardes was elected to the House of Commons for Haverfordwest in 1868, a seat he held until 1885. In 1872 he succeeded his father as fourth Baron Kensington but as this was an Irish peerage it did not entitle him to a seat in the House of Lords and he was able to remain a member of the House of Commons. When the Liberals came to power in 1880 under William Ewart Gladstone, Kensington was admitted to the Privy Council and appointed Comptroller of the Household (government whip in the House of Commons), a post he held until the government fell in 1885.