William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley

William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley (1520–1598), was the chief minister of Queen Elizabeth I for almost the whole of her reign. He first became Secretary of State under Edward VI in 1550 and returned to the office at Elizabeth's accession in 1558; created Baron Burghley in 1571, he became Lord High Treasurer the following year.

He sought a Protestant British Isles through control of Ireland and alliance with Scotland, and strengthened the navy. In 1587 he persuaded the queen to execute Mary, Queen of Scots, implicated in a plot against Elizabeth. He died in 1598, and his son Robert Cecil succeeded to his power.