Henry had livery of his father's lands in 1249 and was accorded permission to marry as he pleased, on payment of ú900, a very large fine even for a baron. He inherited little of his father's "faineant" nature, fighting valiantly in Wales and Scotland. He married Lady Eleanor Plantagenet, niece of King Henry III. This marriage knitted still closer the ties of relationship between the family of Percy and the reigning house, as Eleanor's mother was half-sister to King Henry III.