Paddington’s adoptive father in the Paddington stories is Henry Brown.
Henry Brown is the head of the Brown family, who take Paddington in after finding him at London’s Paddington Station. He is married to Mary Brown and is the father of Jonathan and Judy Brown. The family’s household also includes their housekeeper, Mrs Bird.
Henry is generally practical and responsible, but Paddington’s arrival brings a steady stream of unusual situations into the household. The character appears throughout Michael Bond’s books and in adaptations, although details of the Brown family and their roles can vary between versions.
Readers sometimes confuse Henry Brown with Mr Gruber, Paddington’s friend and mentor. Mr Gruber is a shopkeeper on Portobello Road, not Paddington’s adoptive father. In the feature films, Henry Brown is played by Hugh Bonneville, while the family relationships remain broadly faithful to the books.