Edward Stafford

Sir Edward Stafford was an English courtier, Member of Parliament and diplomat who served as ambassador to France from 1583. His position in Paris placed him at the centre of English diplomacy during the French Wars of Religion and the years leading to the Spanish Armada, when London depended heavily on continental intelligence about Spanish military preparations.

Evidence survives that Stafford received money through contacts linked to Spain and passed diplomatic information, although historians have debated the scale, motive and reliability of his betrayal. He was recalled from Paris in 1590 and later returned to parliamentary life, dying in 1605. His career illustrates the uncertain boundary between diplomacy, personal finance and espionage in Elizabethan Europe.

In John Pilkington’s A Reluctant Traitor, He is sent toward Paris to test the loyalty of Sir Edward Stafford, England's ambassador, who is suspected of passing information to hostile interests.