RISING
ARCHITECT OF THE ACCESSION
Sir Robert Cecil
Cecil was the younger son of Elizabeth I’s leading minister, William, Lord Burghley, and became his father’s political heir in the 1590s. In 1601, he began to correspond secretly with James VI of Scotland and pledged to manage his accession to the English throne on Elizabeth’s death. He kept his word and was repaid in 1603 with the retention of all his offices and entry into the nobility.