William Cecil: Architect of a Queen's Long Reign

He was an enormously capable and respected English statesman. William Cecil became the chief adviser to Queen Elizabeth I, who was the daughter of King Henry VIII and the sister of Queen Mary I. He was the most vital steward of her successful 45 year reign as her nation's Queen.
Cecil was born on September 20th, 1520 and was educated at St. John's College and later at the University of Cambridge. Early on he served in Parliament and eventually became secretary to King Edward VI. During the reign of Queen Mary, (who is more famously known as Bloody Mary) Cecil was invited to participate in her government but he turned it down. When Queen Mary suddenly died after only 5 years on the throne it was her sister Elizabeth, (Whom Mary was about to have executed due to their religious differences) who rises to become Queen. Cecil became her Chief secretary and trusted adviser and ushered in an age of rising prosperity and importance for England.
He helped heal, or at least abate, the religious differences dividing England by coming up with a compromise that was acceptable to most English and it brought into being the Anglican Church in 1559.
In a mostly successful attempt to deal with the subversion that existed in the government he organized an efficient and effective secret service to find and root out traitors to the Queen.
Elizabeth was Protestant and this fact did not sit well with many of the other Catholic countries in Europe and there were many attempts both covert and overt on their parts to overthrow her. The biggest of these attempts occured in 1588 when Spain launched it's giant Naval Armada against England to remove Elizabeth from power. it was Cecil's insight into the intentions of Spain and his preparations before hand to resist it that ultimately led to the defeat of Spain. It brought security to England and Elizabeth's reign.
William cecil's enormous contribution to his country was best expressed by Queen Elizabeth herself who said of him: "No Prince in Europe hath such a councilor as I have in mine". William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley died in 1598 at the age of 78 with Elizabeth in her 40th year as Queen and still on the throne.