Robert Cecil, son of William Cecil, 1st…
March 1600 CE
Robert Cecil, son of William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, and half-brother of Thomas Cecil, 1st Earl of Exeter, had graduated St. John's College, Cambridge, and been made Secretary of State following the death of Sir Francis Walsingham in 1590; he had become the leading minister after the death of his father in 1598.
One task he has addressed is to prepare the way for a smooth succession.
Since Elizabeth will never name her successor, Cecil has been obliged to proceed in secret.
He has therefore entered into a coded negotiation with James VI of Scotland, who has a strong but unrecognized claim.
Cecil has coached the impatient James to humor Elizabeth and "secure the heart of the highest, to whose sex and quality nothing is so improper as either needless expostulations or over much curiosity in her own actions".
The advice works.
James's tone delights Elizabeth, who responds: "So trust I that you will not doubt but that your last letters are so acceptably taken as my thanks cannot be lacking for the same, but yield them to you in grateful sort".
Images
Elizabeth I. The "Rainbow Portrait", c. 1600, an allegorical representation of the Queen, become ageless in her old age. The portrait at Hatfield House has been seen as reflecting Cecil's role as spymaster after the death of Sir Francis Walsingham.
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North Europe
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