 Stanford married Siobhan Cross, a lawyer, on 11 February 1995; the couple have two children.Since leaving the "Catholic Herald", Stanford has written several biographies, travelogues and books on religion.As well as his biography of Lord Longford, the subjects of his other biographies include the poet laureate C. Day-Lewis (2007), 1950s supermodel, peeress, and Catholic convert Bronwen Astor (2000), Cardinal Basil Hume, leader of the Catholic Church in England (1993) and "Martin Luther" (2017).