Sir Edward Petre, 3rd Baronet

Sir Edward Petre, 3rd Baronet (1631 – 15 May 1699) was an English Jesuit who became a close adviser to King James II and was appointed a privy councillor.

In 1649 he was sent for his education to the Jesuit College at St Omer and entered the Society of Jesus in 1652, taking his final vows in 1671.

James, as a Roman Catholic reigning over a nation of Protestants, aroused much ire, and much of it was directed at Petre, his close advisor on religious matters.

After his nomination to the Privy Council, the popular charges against Petre became more fervid than ever, reaching their height in insinuations made about the controversial birth of James Francis Edward Stuart, Prince of Wales, in 1688.

Petre fled to France soon after William III's armies landed in England, and he remained with James in his exile.