Though he was banned, he became heir to the County Palatine of the Rhine through his 1193 marriage to Agnes, a cousin of Emperor Henry VI and daughter of the Hohenstaufen count palatine Conrad. He and the emperor reconciled shortly afterwards, and upon Conrad's death in 1195, Henry was enfeoffed with his County Palatine. A close ally of the emperor, he accompanied him on the conquest of Sicily in 1194/95 and on the Crusade of 1197.