Stafford was the second son of Sir Humphrey Stafford of Cottered and Rushden, Hertfordshire, by his first wife, Margaret Fogge, daughter of Sir John Fogge of Ashford, Kent. His family was distantly related to the mighty Staffords who controlled the dukedom of Buckingham and the earldom of Wiltshire until 1521. Nonetheless, William Stafford was a commoner, and only a second son, and thus served Henry VIII as a soldier. In 1532, Stafford was listed as one of the two hundred people who accompanied Henry VIII to France. The purpose of the journey was for Henry and his fiancée, Anne Boleyn, to meet with Francis I so that he might show his public support and approval for the annulment of Henry's first marriage to Catherine of Aragon. Among the other travellers was Anne Boleyn's sister, Mary, the eldest daughter of Thomas Boleyn, who was by then the Earl of both Wiltshire and Ormonde. With her connections, Mary had excellent marriage prospects. Nonetheless, Mary and Stafford married in secret in 1534. When the marriage was discovered after Mary became pregnant, the couple were banished from court. The couple initially lived at Chebsey in Staffordshire, but later moved to the Boleyn family home, Rochford Hall at Rochford, in Essex. They lived in relative obscurity until Mary died in 1543, after which Stafford served in Scotland. He was knighted there in 1545 - during the reign of Henry VIII - and, two years later, became an MP for Hastings. Also in 1545, Stafford remarried, this time to his second cousin, Dorothy Stafford, the youngest daughter of Henry Stafford, 1st Baron Stafford and Ursula Pole. During the reign of Mary I, Stafford and his family fled to Geneva. He died there on 5 May 1556, not living to see the reign of his first wife's niece, Elizabeth I, or to see his wife, children, and stepchildren become influential courtiers in Elizabeth's court.
Marriages and Issue
In 1534, William Stafford secretly wed, as her second husband, Mary Boleyn, sister of King Henry VIII's second wife, Anne Boleyn. Mary Boleyn is said to have been pregnant at the time of her marriage to Sir William Stafford; however if there were children of the marriage, nothing further is known of them. Stafford married secondly, in 1545, Dorothy Stafford, daughter of Henry Stafford, 1st Baron Stafford, and Ursula Pole, by whom he had three sons and three daughters:
William Stafford, conspirator, who about 1593 married Anne Gryme, daughter of Thomas Gryme of Antingham, Norfolk, by whom he had a daughter, Dorothy Stafford, and a son, William Stafford.
Sir John Stafford of Marlwood Park, Thornbury, Gloucestershire, who married firstly, Bridget Clopton, the daughter of William Clopton of Kentwell Hall, by whom he had a son, and secondly, on 29 January 1580, Millicent Gresham, the daughter of Edmund Gresham and Joan Hynde, by whom he had no issue.
Philip Glenister played Stafford alongside Natascha McElhone as Mary in the BBC film of The Other Boleyn Girl.
Stafford is mentioned in the Showtime series The Tudors, in regards to his marriage to Mary Boleyn. He does not, however, appear on-screen.
Stafford appears briefly in the third episode of the television adaptation of Wolf Hall, played by Tom Forbes.
Books
Stafford appears as a principal character in The Last Boleyn, by Karen Harper, a book about the life of Mary Boleyn in the years before, during, and after her time as the mistress of Henry VIII. He was called "Staff" by all who knew him.
Stafford also was a main character in The Other Boleyn Girl, by Philippa Gregory, who escorts Mary Boleyn to Hever Castle, first starting in 1527. They become friends soon after the death of Mary's first husband, William Carey and William buys Mary's children, Catherine Carey, Lady Knollys, and Henry Carey, 1st Baron Hunsdon, their first ponies. Mary and William marry in 1533, and in secret, and Anne Boleyn, Mary's sister, doesn't discover it until a year later, when Mary discovers that she is pregnant for the third time with her daughter, also called Anne.
Stafford's marriage is mentioned in Wolf Hall, where Mary Boleyn is a prominent character. He appears briefly during a scene set in Calais.
