On This Day in Elizabethan History: Robert Cecil is sworn in as Privy Councillor

A portrait of Robert Cecil after he was created Earl of Salisbury. Painted in 1608, by John de Critz. Picture acquired through Wikimedia Commons. Image public domain.

On this day in 1591, William Cecil, Lord Burghley experienced a proud moment when his son Robert Cecil was sworn in as a Privy Councillor. Robert had been made Secretary of State just a year before upon the death of Sir Francis Walsingham. Robert had been groomed as a statesman by his father and soon took his place in government during the last years of Queen Elizabeth I's reign, as well as during the reign of her successor, James I.