Francis Walsingham The Murder of Christopher Marlowe" (1992), which was used as a source by Anthony Burgess for his novel "A Dead Man in Deptford" (1993). The 1998 film "Elizabeth" gives considerable, although sometimes historically inaccurate, prominence to Walsingham (portrayed by Geoffrey Rush). It fictionalizes him as irreligious and sexually ambiguous, merges chronologically distant events, and inaccurately suggests that he murdered Mary of Guise. Rush reprised the role in the 2007 sequel, "". Both Stephen Murray in the 1970 BBC series "Elizabeth R" and Patrick Malahide in the 2005 Channel Four miniseries "Elizabeth I" play him as a dour official. Francis Walsingham
Francis Walsingham information to Spain. Walsingham may have been aware of Stafford's duplicity, as he fed the ambassador false information, presumably in the hope of fooling or confusing the Spanish. The pro-English Regent of Scotland James Douglas, 4th Earl of Morton, whom Walsingham had supported, was overthrown in 1578. After the collapse of the Raid of Ruthven, another initiative to secure a pro-English government in Scotland, Walsingham reluctantly visited the Scottish court in August 1583, knowing that his diplomatic mission was unlikely to succeed. James VI dismissed Walsingham's advice on domestic policy saying he was an "absolute King" in Scotland. Walsingham replied