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Sunday, May 02, 2021

The Queen is Dead! Long Live the King!

On April 13, 1603, Queen Elizabeth’s First Secretary, Robert Cecil, received orders to attend upon the new King — James I — where he had paused at the City of York. His fate depended entirely upon this king. Although he had already been James’s most valuable ally in the English Court, during the Queen’s decline, one could never be too confident with monarchs. Whatever preparations remained to make for the her funeral, would have to be delegated to others. The two met on the 18th.[1]

James VI of Scotland was slowly progressing from Edinburgh to London, knighting potential allies for his new crown, as James I of England, gaining others by lingering to hunt and hawk with the young noblemen who joined his train along the way.  In the usual manner of a new king preparing for his coronation, James I freed “all prisoners except those that lay for treason, murther, and Papistrie, giving great summes of money for the release of many that were imprisoned for debt”.[2] He received orations of great flattery at each stop with an upright bearing and easy assurance that he had deserved them. Even the august Bishop of Durham knelt before him, backed by 100 retainers in livery, waiting to be given permission to rise.

A Scottish king was a revolutionary change and James had to take the utmost care to mount his throne through acclamation rather than attempt it through power. The practical matters in his plan would rely primarily on dedicated efforts by Cecil.

Perhaps James was aware also that more had changed than the native country of the king, but probably not. Cecil’s father, William, the 1st Baron Burghley, had been a towering figure, until his death in 1598. Together with Elizabeth, he had assiduously continued Henry VII’s efforts to bring the nobility under control. By 1603, a great deal had changed. Young noblemen were expected to become highly educated and to put that education toward service to their country — no longer doughty knights, laden even heavier with arrogance than armor, but as governors well versed in law, management and policy. England was on the way towards being a modern nation. But few among the nobility understood these changes, yet, or that their perceived losses were irreversible.

After making his appearance, Cecil returned to London to oversee the funeral of the Queen who had overseen these changes for over 40 years, who his family patriarchs had served with such dedication even longer still. However uncertain his position might be, his first responsibility was to serve the kingdom. If anything could give him assurance it was his reputation of supremely competent dedication.

On the day of the funeral he also wrote to the Scottish Master of Gray — already long an ally — to describe his impression of James:

For the description you have made of His Majesty this I must say without flattery, that although you have had the happiness long to know him and serve him, yet his virtues are so eminent that by my six days' kneeling at his feet I have made so sufficient a discovery of his royal perfections that I contemplate greater felicity to this isle than ever it enjoyed. As, when I was free, my heart never harboured thought against him either in his person or in his state, which your own soul can best witness, so that now I am become his humble subject and servant I am fully resolved (while breath lasteth) to depend upon  himself only, and to associate only [with] those whom I shall find freest from private ends.[3]

He had also been making the arrangements for James to be received at his father’s great mansion at Theobalds, Elizabeth’s favorite stop on her progresses. The estate would be used as the staging ground for James’s entry into London for his coronation.

As Cecil accompanied James from York, the scene would have been little changed from  Henry VII’s progresses on the surface. The countryside being considerably more dangerous, Henry’s attendants would have been present to provide security. James’ were present more to provide pomp and display.

Cecil had arranged for a Royal entry. Gratifying crowds of common citizens magically materialized standing back at a comfortable distance along the route to the mansion.

There the King came, riding over from Broxbourne on the appointed day, and found a vast concourse of Londoners, as well as the whole countryside, in wait to see him.

The king’s entry into London would begin on Cecil lands. He would remember it with great pleasure.

But Robert Cecil had another facet to him that impressed many who knew him above all others. It is mentioned by an anonymous witness of the events.

Whatever their precise number Cecil apparently was ready for them; and even the poorest  found beer and bread, beef and veal and mutton, with which to make holiday. For the maimed and distressed soldiery there was made a special provision of wine and money, 'in very bounteous sort,'…[4]

Something of the last years of the great reign of Queen Elizabeth I was also properly called the reign of Robert Cecil. During the opening years of James I somewhat the same might be said. At Theobalds, the monarchy changed and Robert Cecil remained the same.



[1] Cecil, Algernon. A Life of Robert Cecil First Earl of Salisbury (1915). 194.

[2] Nichols, John. Processions, And Magnificent Festivities, Of King James The First (1828). I.70.

[3] Cecil, 174-5.

[4] Ibid.


Also at Virtual Grub Street:

  • Sir Robert Carey’s Account of the Death of Queen Elizabeth. March 23, 2021. “When I came to court I found the Queen ill disposed, and she kept her inner lodging; yet she, hearing of my arrival, sent for me.”
  • William Camden to Sir Robert Cotton. March 15, 1603 [1602 O.S.]. October 11, 2020. “Here their topic is the dying Queen Elizabeth. The Royal Court had developed a checklist of activities to be accomplished before a dying monarch should expire.”
  • A Most Curious Account of the Funeral of Queen Elizabeth I: April 28, 1603.  April 28, 2019.  “Once it was clear that James I would face no serious challenges, Cecil and the others could begin to give attention to the matter of the Queen’s funeral.”
  • Queen Elizabeth I’s Heart and the French Ambassador.  April 3, 2019.  “…the Queen of England, with the permission of her physicians, has been able to come out of her private chamber, she has permitted me… to see her…”
  • Lady Southwell on the Final Days of Queen Elizabeth I.  March 24, 2019.  “her majesty told [Lady Scrope] (commanding her to conceal the same ) that she saw, one night, in her bed, her body exceeding lean, and fearful in a light of fire.”
  • Check out the English Renaissance Article Index for many more articles and reviews about this fascinating time and about the Shakespeare Authorship Question.
  • Check out the English Renaissance Letter Index for many letters from this fascinating time, some related to the Shakespeare Authorship Question.
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