Key people in the Privy Council

• Lord Burghley, Sir William Cecil (1520-98)

  • Served under Somerset as secretary of state and was a privy councillor under Northumberland
  • Secretary of state, master of court of wards and Lord Treasurer
  • Appointed: 1558
  • Served Elizabeth for over 40 years
  • Patronage: 1571 - created Lord Burghley
  • Disagreed with Rober Dudley due to religion
  • Died from Natural causes in 1598
• Christopher Hatton (1540-91)

  • He was gifted, industrious and loyal
  • MP for Northamptonshire, vice-chamberlain of the household, a privy councillor and Lord Chancellor
  • Appointed: 1577
  • Responsible for royal progress
  • Patronage: 1587 - made Lord Chancellor and rewarded with lands, offices and monopoly of the wine trade (also invested with the order of the Garter)
  • He resented Sir Walter Raleigh
  • Died a bachelor at age 51 in 1591
• Sir Walter Raleigh

  • He had a dashing and flamboyant nature
  • Captain of the Queen’s bodyguard and appointed vice-admiral of Devin and Cornwall
  • Patronage: 1585 - knighted, given large estates in England and Ireland plus monopoly of playing cards
  • Hatton resented him
  • 1595 - sent to the Tower for getting Elizabeth Throckmorton, one of Elizabeth's ladies, pregnant
• Earl of Leicester, Robert Dudley (1533-88)

  • Master of the horse
  • Appointed: 1562
  • Close friend of Elizabeth - rumours they were having an affair
  • Commander of the army to the Netherlands
• Earl of Essex, Robert Dereux (1567-1601)

  • Master of the horse
  • Appointed: 1593
  • In charge of organising attacks against Spain
  • Executed, in 1601, for his part in a plot against the Queen’s councillors
• Francis Walsingham (1532-90)

  • Appointed: 1573
  • Led Elizabeth’s secret service - controlled a network of spies to uncover plots
• Sir Robert Cecil (1563-1612)

  • Son of William Cecil
  • Appointed: 1591
  • Took over as spy master when Walsingham passed