Egmont left Harrow school and was commissioned into the Royal Navy as a powder monkey in August 1805 and fought in the H. M. S. "Orion" in the Battle of Trafalgar the same year, aged eleven. During the Bombardment of Algiers in 1816 he commanded the H. M. S. "Infernal". He was promoted to rear-admiral on 27 August 1851, to vice-admiral in 1857 and to admiral in 1863.