That King Charles understood this may account for his seven-year delay in responding. In the end Robert Trelawny who had become Member of Parliament for Plymouth (and despite his royalist sympathy) most likely persuaded a king who was running out of friends in the West Country to act. On 21 April 1641 the letters patent were signed and sealed. An Act of Parliament was passed on 6 July 1641 and given royal assent on 7 August. It cost the town £150 and was one of the few pieces of legislation in that limited Parliament.