King of Elizabeth I’s court
Born 500 years ago, Lord Burghley, the Queen’s chief adviser, was a mighty figure in 16th-century England, says Eleanor Doughty
Lord Burghley did it all: diplomat, spymaster and Lord Treasurer. Chief adviser to Elizabeth I, this Lincolnshireborn son of a minor courtier rose to the highest ranks of government. Elizabeth I said of him, ‘No prince in Europe has such a counsellor as I have in mine.’
And yet he doesn’t have household name status like, say, Raleigh or Drake.
That’s all about to change. In commemoration of the 500th anniversary of Burghley’s birth in Lincolnshire on 13th September 1520, two of his descendants – the Marquess of Salisbury and Miranda Rock, granddaughter of the 6th Marquess of Exeter – have launched the Lord Burghley 500 Foundation. In 2020, it will hold events at Burghley House, the National Portrait Gallery, the Garden Museum, Trinity College Dublin, Chalke Valley History Festival and St John’s, Cambridge. Burghley will have two services in his name at St Martin’s, Stamford, and Westminster Abbey.
He was born William Cecil, the son of Sir Richard Cecil, sometime High Sheriff of Rutland, and grandson of Welsh courtier David Cecil, Yeoman of the Chamber of Henry VII. Educated at the King’s School, Grantham, and Stamford School, he went up to St John’s, Cambridge, in 1535, aged 14. He worked for the Duke of Somerset, before being employed by the then Princess Elizabeth. When Mary I died in 1558, Cecil was at the heart of Elizabeth I’s court.
As well as her adviser, Burghley was the Queen’s friend – but nothing more. ‘It’s not the love-play you see with the Earl of Leicester,’ says Stephen Alford, author of The Watchers: A Secret History of the Reign of Elizabeth I. ‘Burghley sold himself through his seriousness and frankness.’
Cecil, ennobled as Baron Burghley in 1571, was married twice, producing two dynasties, the Exeters and the Salisburys. His first marriage, to Anne Cheke, produced Sir Thomas Cecil, later Earl of Exeter. After Cheke’s death in 1544, he
married Mildred Cooke and had three children – Frances, Anne, and Robert, later Earl of Salisbury and adviser to James I, discoverer of the Gunpowder Plot. The political legacy has continued: in 1885, the 3rd Marquess of Salisbury became Prime Minister, and in 1979 the current marquess became the seventh consecutive generation of his family to take his seat in the House of Commons.
The Exeters’ architectural legacy is great. In 1555, work began on Burghley House near Stamford, Lincolnshire. Today, this palace, which took 32 years to complete, attracts over 100,000 visitors a year; it is run by Miranda Rock and her husband, Orlando Rock, UK chairman of Christie’s. Lord Burghley’s spirit is still strong. ‘When you live in a house which bears the name of a historical figure, you’re constantly trying to find a way of getting to know them,’ says Miranda.
One stately wasn’t enough for socialclimbing Burghley. In 1564, he set about building Theobalds Palace in Hertfordshire, described by architectural historian Sir John Summerson as, ‘with the possible exception of Longleat and Wollaton, the most important architectural adventure of Elizabeth’s reign’. In 1607, nine years after his father’s death, Robert Cecil swapped Theobalds for Hatfield House, today the home of Lord Salisbury.
Having built his physical legacy, Burghley became well-established as Elizabeth I’s most trusted minister. ‘If people wanted a leg up the promotion ladder, you sat outside his chambers and hoped to catch his eye,’ explains Alford.
Burghley may not have been a glamorous figure, but,as Lord High Treasurer, Lord Privy Seal and Secretary of State he is crucial to historians today.
‘A lot of the material we use to understand the second half of the 16th century comes from his archive,’ says Alford. ‘The story of Elizabeth’s reign is Burghley’s story.’
‘There was nothing he didn’t get his fingers into,’ says Lord Salisbury.
There is no comparable figure today. ‘The modern equivalent would be the Cabinet Secretary and every other position rolled into one, on steroids,’ adds Alford. ‘We live in a different age. I don’t think Burghley would stand up well against a modern electorate.’
Despite his power, Burghley had a chip on his shoulder. ‘When his enemies attacked him, they went after his lack of ancestry,’ says Alford. To compensate, complex family trees were created to prove he was descended from Welsh kings.
‘He was unquestionably a snob,’ says Lord Salisbury. ‘He liked being a member of the Order of the Garter.’
In 1571, he married his daughter Anne to Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford. The marriage was a disaster. ‘Oxford was a horror,’ says Lord Salisbury. ‘Burghley must have regretted what he’d done for the rest of his life.’
Despite the fame of the Marquess of Salisbury who became Prime Minister, the current Lord Salisbury recognises that his family owes it all to Burghley. ‘All my life, he has looked down on me here,’ he says from Hatfield. ‘We’re proud that he founded our family.’ Miranda Rock, too, is grateful to her ancestor. ‘It is amazing that a house conceived of 450 years ago is still relevant now. I am full of admiration for him.’