Background
Willoughby was the third son of William Willoughby, 3rd Baron Willoughby of Parham and his wife Lady Frances Manners, daughter of John Manners, 4th Earl of Rutland.
Willoughby was the third son of William Willoughby, 3rd Baron Willoughby of Parham and his wife Lady Frances Manners, daughter of John Manners, 4th Earl of Rutland.
He was educated at Eton College from 1623 to 1624.
He inherited the peerage as Baron Willoughby of Parham in 1666 and served as Governor of Barbados. In 1636 he travelled abroad in Italy. He was a student of Middle Temple in 1652.
He was commissioner for plantations from December 1660 to 1667.
From 1667 until his death he was Governor of Barbados, revisiting England occasionally and retaining his local offices. Willoughby died in Barbados, and his body was brought back to Lincolnshire, where he was buried at Knaith.
Willoughby married Anne, daughter of Sir Philip Carey of Aldenham, Hertfordshire, by 1637.
In 1660 Willoughby was elected Member of Parliament for Midhurst in the Convention Parliament.