Their father's attainder was formally reversed by Parliament in November of that year, and the wardship of both Henry Stafford and his elder brother were granted, on 3 August 1486, to the King's mother, Margaret Beaufort.

Stafford did not inherit properties which would have ensured his financial independence, and according to Dockray his elder brother, the Duke of Buckingham, did not endow him with lands which would have guaranteed him an income.

On 22 April 1505 he was made a member of the Order of the Garter, and in January 1506 was present at a meeting between the Henry VII and Philip of Castile at Windsor.

[9] Stafford was on the commission directed to inquire into riots in Devon on 29 September 1514, and was in attendance in Westminster Abbey when Wolsey received his Cardinal's hat on 18 November 1515.

Either in or before 1520 he became a member of the Privy Council, and in 1520 was appointed to attend the King at the Field of the Cloth of Gold in June, and at his meeting with the Emperor Charles V in July.

[10] Dockray notes that Wiltshire's expenditure at court in the early years of the reign of Henry VIII must have been considerable, as by 1521 he owed the crown £4407 4s.

[18] The proposed match prompted Cecily's eldest son, Thomas Grey, 2nd Marquess of Dorset, to challenge his mother's right to continue as her late husband's executor.