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

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,[3] and it was said that 'they four governed from thenceforth all the queen's affairs at their pleasure.

In 1582 the Jesuit Robert Persons and William Allen conceived a plot which would have had Henry I, Duke of Guise, Philip II of Spain, and Pope Gregory XIII work in concert with Scottish and English Catholics to bring about a successful invasion of England with the objective of releasing Mary, Queen of Scots, and deposing Elizabeth.

[6] On 8 January 1582 he wrote from Paris to Sir Francis Walsingham that: God made me known to you in this town, and led me to offer you affection; nothing can so comfort me as her Majesty's and your favour.

And again on 28 September 1582:In my answer to her Majesty's command for my return to England, assist me that she may yield me her favour and liberty of conscience in religion.

If this cannot be done, then solicit her for my enjoying my small living on this side the sea, whereby I may be kept from necessity, which otherwise will force me to seek relief of some foreign prince.On 23 October 1582 Paget informed Walsingham of his intention to go to Rouen for his health and to drink English beer.

[9] He was regarded with the utmost distrust and suspicion by Walsingham, who, in a despatch sent to Stafford on 16 December 1584, wrote that: "Charles Paget is a most dangerous instrument, and I wish, for Northumberland's sake, he had never been born".

Thomas Morgan introduced Paget to Albert Fontenay, a brother of Mary, Queen of Scots' French secretary Claude Nau.

[14] Although all his plots had signally failed, Paget appears to have clung to the hope that the Protestant religion in England could be subverted by a foreign force.

Writing under the signature of 'Nauris,' from Paris to one Nicholas Berden alias Thomas Rogers (a courier and a spy for Walsingham),[15] on 31 January 1588 he observed, in reference to the anticipated triumph of the Spanish Armada: "When the day of invasion happens, the proudest Councillor or Minister in England will be glad of the favour of a Catholic gentleman".

[16] In March 1588 Paget entered the service of the Philip II of Spain,[citation needed] and went to live in Brussels, where he remained for the next eleven years.

[17] He continued his correspondence: I am incited to boldness with you by your favour to my nephew Paget, and the good report I hear of your sweet nature, modesty, and wisdom.

I am under obligation to the one as an English subject, and to the other as a catholic prince who has relieved me in my banishment.He added that His Highness was willing to treat with allies, and particularly with the queen, that the crowns of England and Spain might return to their old amity.

[18]On 27 April 1598 Paget wrote from Liège to Thomas Barnes in London: "I am unspeakably comforted that the queen inclines to listen to my humble suit.

[19] In 1598, Paget arranged for a conspirator Thomas Barnes to visit Antwerp, pretending his journey was to buy tapestry and pictures for the Earl of Essex.

His attainder appears to have been reversed in the first parliament of James I, probably by the act restoring in blood his nephew William, Lord Paget, and it is presumed that he returned to England.