Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury
Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, was an English statesman noted for his direction of the government during the Union of the Crowns, as Tudor England gave way to Stuart rule (1603). Lord Salisbury served as the Secretary of State of England (1596–1612) and Lord High Treasurer (1608–1612), succeeding his father as Queen Elizabeth I's Lord Privy Seal and remaining in power during the first nine years of King James I's reign until his own death.
The Earl of Salisbury by John de Critz the Elder c. 1602
The Rainbow Portrait of Elizabeth I at Hatfield House has been seen as reflecting Cecil's role as spymaster after the death of Sir Francis Walsingham, due to the eyes and ears in the pattern of the dress.
The Treaty of London taking place at Somerset House on 19 August 1604 - Cecil is seen sitting on the right in foreground
The Union of the Crowns was the accession of James VI of Scotland to the throne of the Kingdom of England as James I and the practical unification of some functions of the two separate realms under a single individual on 24 March 1603. It followed the death of James's cousin, Elizabeth I of England, the last monarch of the Tudor dynasty.
Margaret Tudor
James in the year of his coronation in England, 1603
"England and Scotland with Minerva and Love" Allegorical work of the Union of the Crowns by Peter Paul Rubens
