Charles Paget (conspirator)

Charles Paget
Postcript to Mary, Queen of Scots' letter to Babington forged by Walsingham's 'decypherer'. In his letter of 31 January Paget claimed to interpret this cipher.
Born	c.1546
Died	1612
Noble family	Paget
Father	William Paget, 1st Baron Paget
Mother	Anne Preston

Charles Paget (c. 1546–1612) was a Roman Catholic conspirator, involved in the Babington plot to assassinate Queen Elizabeth I of England.

Charles Paget, born about 1546, was a younger son of the statesman William Paget, 1st Baron Paget, and his wife, Anne Preston, the daughter and heir of Henry Preston. Paget had three brothers, Henry, Thomas, and Edward (died young), and six sisters who married well.

Paget left University of Cambridge on 27 May 1559 as a fellow commoner of Caius College. When Paget's father died in 1563, Paget inherited the lordship of Weston-on-Trent in Derbyshire. The following year he was present when Queen Elizabeth visited Trinity Hall, Cambridge. Like many other students he left the university without taking a degree, and although he was admitted to the Middle Temple in 1560, he never practised law.

Like many other members of his family, Paget was a zealous Catholic, and in 1581 he went into exile, and for seven years lived principally in Paris, but also in Rouen. While in Paris he became closely associated with Thomas Morgan, an agent of Mary, Queen of Scots. Paget and Morgan endeavoured to keep Mary informed of events in France and other parts through correspondence with her two secretaries in England, Claude Nau and Gilbert Curle, and it was said that 'they four governed from thenceforth all the queen's affairs at their pleasure.'