0:00:03 > 0:00:07Britain, at the time of Queen Elizabeth I, was divided,
0:00:07 > 0:00:09unstable and violent.
0:00:13 > 0:00:17Despite this, Elizabeth stayed in power for over 40 years.
0:00:18 > 0:00:20The secret of her incredible reign...
0:00:21 > 0:00:23..is hidden in this portrait.
0:00:27 > 0:00:30Detailed in the folds of her dress,
0:00:30 > 0:00:33these eyes and ears represent a spy network.
0:00:36 > 0:00:38The world's first Secret Service.
0:00:39 > 0:00:41Run by a father and son team.
0:00:42 > 0:00:46Both exceptionally intelligent and given the job of protecting Queen
0:00:46 > 0:00:48and country.
0:00:48 > 0:00:52This series tells their story over five decades,
0:00:52 > 0:00:54and reveals how the Secret State was born.
0:00:56 > 0:00:58Elizabethan England as it really was,
0:00:58 > 0:01:01with a network of spies battling a terrorist threat.
0:01:03 > 0:01:05And both sides will stop at nothing.
0:01:06 > 0:01:10The Elizabethan state was mirrors within mirrors.
0:01:10 > 0:01:13The double crossings, the conspiracies.
0:01:13 > 0:01:14It's an endless labyrinth.
0:01:16 > 0:01:19Leading historians have researched these events from different
0:01:19 > 0:01:21individual perspectives.
0:01:25 > 0:01:29Elizabeth was ineffably different.
0:01:29 > 0:01:34She was exceptional, she was holy, she was magical.
0:01:36 > 0:01:38They'll take us inside the mind of each of the key players.
0:01:40 > 0:01:42Dissecting their motives and actions,
0:01:42 > 0:01:45while the course of British history hangs in the balance.
0:01:46 > 0:01:48By meeting Robert Cecil,
0:01:48 > 0:01:51you have the feeling that you would have somehow compromised yourself.
0:01:51 > 0:01:54You would have exposed yourself to his sharp eye.
0:01:54 > 0:01:57And, it's because of that that he is a terrifying figure.
0:01:58 > 0:02:02We'll see how history is really made in the corridors of power,
0:02:02 > 0:02:04from just behind the throne.
0:02:08 > 0:02:10In this episode,
0:02:10 > 0:02:12a Catholic threat...
0:02:13 > 0:02:14..a rival at court...
0:02:15 > 0:02:17..and the death of Queen Elizabeth I.
0:02:32 > 0:02:351594, England is alone.
0:02:36 > 0:02:39A Protestant country surrounded by Catholic Europe.
0:02:39 > 0:02:41The Spanish Armada has just been defeated.
0:02:44 > 0:02:46But there is still the fear they might try again.
0:02:50 > 0:02:53Merchant ships are bringing spices, tobacco and immigrants
0:02:53 > 0:02:55into the ports,
0:02:55 > 0:02:59as well as Protestant refugees and the occasional Catholic terrorist.
0:03:03 > 0:03:05Most people live in tremendous poverty,
0:03:06 > 0:03:09but those who are close to the Queen have extraordinary wealth.
0:03:11 > 0:03:16Here at Burghley House lived the Cecils, her spy masters.
0:03:18 > 0:03:20The father, William Cecil,
0:03:20 > 0:03:23saved Elizabeth from seven assassination attempts.
0:03:25 > 0:03:28But, when he took the decision to execute Mary, Queen of Scots,
0:03:28 > 0:03:32Elizabeth was furious and banished him from court.
0:03:36 > 0:03:43It's 30 years of work, hard graft in the offices of state,
0:03:43 > 0:03:46working with correspondents, networks of spies.
0:03:46 > 0:03:50So, to have this taken away from him, it's devastating.
0:03:52 > 0:03:57He would rather be sent to the tower and probably executed, than just be
0:03:57 > 0:04:01banished and watch politics going on from afar.
0:04:03 > 0:04:06The hope is, though, that son Robert
0:04:06 > 0:04:09can take over the father's spy network and regain the family's
0:04:09 > 0:04:11position at court.
0:04:12 > 0:04:18Robert Cecil is trained to do the dirty work of government.
0:04:19 > 0:04:21He is clever...
0:04:22 > 0:04:25..cunning, feeble...
0:04:26 > 0:04:28..rich, lonely.
0:04:30 > 0:04:33He dreams of following his father into becoming the Queen's
0:04:33 > 0:04:36principle secretary -
0:04:36 > 0:04:37the equivalent of her Prime Minister.
0:04:39 > 0:04:42But she is currently a little less than impressed with Robert Cecil.
0:04:44 > 0:04:47I think she was initially quite mistrustful of him.
0:04:47 > 0:04:51She was quite dismissive.
0:04:51 > 0:04:53I think she thought he was a bit of a prig.
0:04:53 > 0:04:59And he certainly didn't have any of the swaggering glamour, which
0:04:59 > 0:05:03Elizabeth usually preferred in her court favourites.
0:05:05 > 0:05:09Born with a curved spine, Cecil was less than five feet tall.
0:05:11 > 0:05:13Poor little pygmy, she calls him.
0:05:13 > 0:05:15Although people think that pygmy was a horrible nickname,
0:05:15 > 0:05:19she gave everyone nicknames, and I think it was rather affectionate.
0:05:20 > 0:05:24When the Queen called him pygmy,
0:05:24 > 0:05:25Cecil was deeply hurt.
0:05:25 > 0:05:29And later, to his father, he writes quite candidly,
0:05:29 > 0:05:33"If anyone else calls me pygmy, I would admit how much it hurts."
0:05:34 > 0:05:37"But in the case of the Queen, I don't dare to."
0:05:41 > 0:05:43The pressures on Elizabeth's courtiers were intense.
0:05:44 > 0:05:48She had executed 15 of them since she had come to the throne.
0:05:55 > 0:05:58But Robert Cecil did have something up his sleeve.
0:05:59 > 0:06:01He inherited his father's spy network.
0:06:07 > 0:06:13Cecil has spies watching every suspect Catholic family
0:06:13 > 0:06:15in the country.
0:06:15 > 0:06:20He has informants in the prisons, he has turned priests,
0:06:20 > 0:06:25he has corrupted servants who are reporting back directly to Cecil.
0:06:27 > 0:06:30He knows his best chance of impressing the Queen is to capture
0:06:30 > 0:06:32Catholics plotting against her.
0:06:35 > 0:06:38Every plot foiled can be used as a pawn in a bigger game at court.
0:06:41 > 0:06:46In 1594, he hears of a Catholic priest described as very dangerous.
0:06:48 > 0:06:50Cecil sends some men to arrest him.
0:07:02 > 0:07:05The man they are after is Father John Gerard,
0:07:05 > 0:07:10a priest who snuck into the country just after the Spanish Armada and
0:07:10 > 0:07:14has been trying to win over hearts and minds in Norfolk and Suffolk.
0:07:27 > 0:07:29Priests are not social workers,
0:07:29 > 0:07:34they are at the sharp end of a religious war and they are prepared
0:07:34 > 0:07:36to die for the cause.
0:07:37 > 0:07:41If one of these agents of foreign powers get close enough
0:07:41 > 0:07:44to the Queen, then her life is in danger.
0:07:48 > 0:07:51Cecil then takes the news of Gerard's capture to the Queen.
0:07:51 > 0:07:55She should be pleased, but the Queen's mind is elsewhere.
0:07:55 > 0:07:57There's a new star at court.
0:08:06 > 0:08:09The Earl of Essex was everything Cecil wasn't.
0:08:09 > 0:08:13He was handsome, an expert swordsman and a war hero.
0:08:16 > 0:08:18Essex was an athlete.
0:08:18 > 0:08:20You can see it in the paintings.
0:08:21 > 0:08:27I mean, those legs, with armour tied round them like modern skinny jeans.
0:08:28 > 0:08:34He is so obviously playing up what he considers to be his strength.
0:08:36 > 0:08:40For Cecil, the Catholic terrorists are the official enemy.
0:08:41 > 0:08:42But Essex is the real enemy.
0:08:46 > 0:08:51Everybody at the Elizabethan court knows that the court is a theatre,
0:08:51 > 0:08:54it's the stage on which people compete for power.
0:08:55 > 0:08:56So, Robert Cecil...
0:08:58 > 0:09:01..when he sees the Earl of Essex appear,
0:09:01 > 0:09:06he knows that he's no longer in full control of the plotlines.
0:09:14 > 0:09:16Essex could flirt with the Queen,
0:09:16 > 0:09:19there's talk of him playing cards late at night with the Queen,
0:09:19 > 0:09:24suggesting a sexual closeness with the Queen,
0:09:24 > 0:09:27that clearly was ridiculous and was out of the question.
0:09:29 > 0:09:32Elizabeth was extremely susceptible to..
0:09:32 > 0:09:35I wouldn't say it was flattery exactly,
0:09:35 > 0:09:39there was a particular way to address or approach her.
0:09:39 > 0:09:43Essex was extremely adept at playing this game of courtly love,
0:09:43 > 0:09:47so when Essex casts himself at her feet and describes her as
0:09:47 > 0:09:52his goddess and Elizabeth responds in kind, they're playing a game.
0:09:52 > 0:09:55Now, she may have felt attracted to Essex,
0:09:55 > 0:09:56he was a very handsome young man.
0:10:02 > 0:10:05Cecil's rivalry with Essex is also deeply personal.
0:10:08 > 0:10:09They grew up under the same roof.
0:10:11 > 0:10:15When Essex's parents died, he was taken in by the Cecils.
0:10:16 > 0:10:19He and Robert were brought up almost like brothers.
0:10:22 > 0:10:28When Essex makes this great entry into court life...
0:10:29 > 0:10:33..it's not just that Robert Cecil is wondering how he's going to
0:10:33 > 0:10:38stay on top of the situation in the court, it's also a return of all
0:10:38 > 0:10:40kinds of insecurities and worries that go back
0:10:40 > 0:10:43to his earliest childhood.
0:10:43 > 0:10:48There's a story of them riding along together in a carriage one day and
0:10:48 > 0:10:53engaging in a furious row in which all courtliness and veneer
0:10:53 > 0:10:55is stripped away.
0:10:55 > 0:11:03So, I would think that Robert Cecil felt he had reason to worry.
0:11:09 > 0:11:13Crucially, Essex has bought himself his own private spy network.
0:11:21 > 0:11:25Essex runs agents through a handler he's stolen from Cecil's network
0:11:25 > 0:11:27with an offer of more money.
0:11:30 > 0:11:34Cecil's code breaker, and a double agent in the Catholic underground
0:11:34 > 0:11:37also defect from Cecil's network to his rival's.
0:11:44 > 0:11:47Gradually, they thin out
0:11:47 > 0:11:50into two rival teams of intelligence operatives.
0:11:53 > 0:11:58And the material they are generating is the grist to the mill of the
0:11:58 > 0:12:01competition between Cecil and Essex.
0:12:03 > 0:12:04And the spy game has changed.
0:12:05 > 0:12:09No longer simply a necessary system to keep the Queen safe,
0:12:09 > 0:12:12now it's about playing politics and gaining power.
0:12:24 > 0:12:26The first person caught in the centre of it
0:12:26 > 0:12:29is a man called Roderigo Lopez.
0:12:29 > 0:12:32He's from a wealthy Portuguese merchant family,
0:12:32 > 0:12:34and he's also the Queen's doctor.
0:12:41 > 0:12:43Lopez is also working for Cecil.
0:12:43 > 0:12:47Cecil is using Lopez as a kind of private back channel
0:12:47 > 0:12:49for communication with Spain.
0:12:53 > 0:12:56So, Essex gets involved in something called the Lopez plot,
0:12:56 > 0:13:01which I've studied for weeks and can't get to the bottom of.
0:13:04 > 0:13:07What is known is that at this point, Essex makes
0:13:07 > 0:13:08a wild accusation.
0:13:10 > 0:13:14He claims Lopez has taken 50,000 crowns, and in return,
0:13:14 > 0:13:16he has promised to poison the Queen.
0:13:20 > 0:13:24Elizabeth initially seemed to be horrified at the accusations against
0:13:24 > 0:13:28Lopez, this is a man she trusted very intimately, who knew her,
0:13:28 > 0:13:32arguably, physically in a way that no other man ever had.
0:13:33 > 0:13:37And she was really appalled by the accusations.
0:13:37 > 0:13:42However, she did appear to allow herself to be convinced.
0:13:45 > 0:13:50Lopez is thrown in the tower and Cecil has a decision to make
0:13:50 > 0:13:51about whether to stand by him.
0:13:54 > 0:13:57Lopez may be too expensive to defend.
0:13:58 > 0:14:03There is nothing at this point to suggest that Robert Cecil
0:14:03 > 0:14:07believes that Lopez is guilty of conspiracy to kill the Queen.
0:14:09 > 0:14:12But Cecil gets behind the investigation,
0:14:12 > 0:14:14and Lopez, who is an old man...
0:14:16 > 0:14:18..is shown the rack.
0:14:18 > 0:14:21And that's the phrase that's used, he was shown the rack.
0:14:22 > 0:14:24There is only one rack in England.
0:14:24 > 0:14:26It's the one in the Tower.
0:14:27 > 0:14:33It's a legendary, fearsome, and awful punishment.
0:14:40 > 0:14:42Lopez is a doctor,
0:14:42 > 0:14:46he knows exactly what is going to happen if he's racked.
0:14:47 > 0:14:49And, so, Lopez signs the confession.
0:14:59 > 0:15:02And Lopez says, "Yes, I did it.
0:15:02 > 0:15:04"I offered to kill the Queen."
0:15:07 > 0:15:10Essex has forced Cecil to get a false confession out of
0:15:10 > 0:15:11his own agent.
0:15:13 > 0:15:17Lopez is then hanged, cut down while still alive and disembowelled.
0:15:33 > 0:15:40When Lopez has been executed, Robert Cecil has come to a kind
0:15:40 > 0:15:42of maturity,
0:15:42 > 0:15:48in that he has faced the full implications
0:15:48 > 0:15:50of the intelligence game.
0:15:50 > 0:15:54In that it is not just a matter of gathering paper and messages
0:15:54 > 0:15:56and moving information around.
0:16:00 > 0:16:04He's been prepared to sentence to death
0:16:04 > 0:16:07a man that he knows to be innocent.
0:16:13 > 0:16:16It is the behaviour of somebody who aspires
0:16:16 > 0:16:18to be a supreme professional...
0:16:19 > 0:16:23..to outdo his father, in that respect,
0:16:23 > 0:16:28and who, to do this, is prepared to do almost anything.
0:16:29 > 0:16:30And you have to wonder...
0:16:32 > 0:16:37..what the personal cost is of somebody who has done this,
0:16:37 > 0:16:40who has knowingly sent to the most horrific death,
0:16:40 > 0:16:46to be publicly mutilated and chopped up while still alive,
0:16:46 > 0:16:50knowingly done this to a long-time servant of his family
0:16:50 > 0:16:52and of the Queen.
0:16:52 > 0:16:56You have to wonder what personal cost comes with that.
0:16:57 > 0:17:00That there must be some kind of damage to somebody's soul
0:17:00 > 0:17:02to commit that kind of crime.
0:17:07 > 0:17:11Whatever the Lopez plot did or did not involve, the outcome...
0:17:13 > 0:17:18..did seem to boost the reputation of Essex.
0:17:18 > 0:17:22He could feel that he had saved the Queen.
0:17:23 > 0:17:28And now here, in this dramatic sinister area, involving Spain,
0:17:28 > 0:17:33Catholics, he has apparently proved that he can be the master of that.
0:17:33 > 0:17:36The Queen needs protection, um,
0:17:36 > 0:17:40and he can give it just as well as Robert Cecil can.
0:17:42 > 0:17:45It falls to Cecil to make the next move in their rivalry
0:17:45 > 0:17:46for the Queen's favour.
0:17:51 > 0:17:54Cecil believes that the priest he captured earlier is the real threat.
0:17:57 > 0:18:01Now he wants to find out what Father John Gerard knows.
0:18:07 > 0:18:09He was held up like that.
0:18:10 > 0:18:15And was made to hang from these manacles for hours and hours on end.
0:18:17 > 0:18:20And he kept passing out, so they would put a little step
0:18:20 > 0:18:24underneath him, and every time he came to, they would drop it again.
0:18:26 > 0:18:29And this went on for two days.
0:18:29 > 0:18:30And on the second day,
0:18:30 > 0:18:34he had to wear a looser robe because his hands were so swollen
0:18:34 > 0:18:40and he said the pain was worse in his chest, and his belly, and his
0:18:40 > 0:18:43arms, and his fingers and he felt blood was pouring out of his
0:18:43 > 0:18:46fingers' ends, he felt blood was pouring out of his pores.
0:18:51 > 0:18:55John Gerard is in fact a key player in the Catholic underground.
0:18:55 > 0:18:58When Cecil's men had come close to arresting him before,
0:18:58 > 0:19:01he had hidden in priest holes -
0:19:01 > 0:19:04secret chambers cut into the floors and walls of houses.
0:19:07 > 0:19:11Now Cecil wants him to reveal which families had been hiding him,
0:19:11 > 0:19:12but Gerard is resisting.
0:19:13 > 0:19:16You knew that Cecil would go to hell
0:19:16 > 0:19:20and he, Gerard and God's children would go to heaven.
0:19:20 > 0:19:22So, he has this sort of tunnel vision,
0:19:22 > 0:19:25this single-minded purpose, and that gave him strength,
0:19:25 > 0:19:28that undoubtedly gave him strength.
0:19:28 > 0:19:30Gerard resists all his tortures.
0:19:31 > 0:19:33Refusing to give up a single name.
0:19:36 > 0:19:39Gerard did rightly to that he had what he called
0:19:39 > 0:19:42an interior temptation.
0:19:42 > 0:19:44He thought that he would give up, give in.
0:19:44 > 0:19:49But then he said that he realised the worst they could do to him was
0:19:49 > 0:19:53kill him, and then he would be with his brothers, he would be a martyr.
0:19:53 > 0:19:56So, he said that gave him strength, the idea of suffering.
0:19:56 > 0:19:58And I think with Gerard, whether this is retrospective or
0:19:58 > 0:20:02in the moment, I don't know, but there's almost a sense that
0:20:02 > 0:20:06him hanging there with the manacles is his passion.
0:20:06 > 0:20:09It's the Passion of Christ for John Gerard.
0:20:12 > 0:20:14While Cecil gets nowhere,
0:20:14 > 0:20:18Essex, meanwhile, has a truly bold way to impress the Queen.
0:20:26 > 0:20:29An informant Essex has at the Spanish court
0:20:29 > 0:20:30tells him they are planning an invasion.
0:20:32 > 0:20:35He tells Elizabeth that he will lead a pre-emptive strike,
0:20:35 > 0:20:37attacking the port of Cadiz.
0:20:40 > 0:20:45It's a raid. It's an attempt to inflict a bloody nose.
0:20:45 > 0:20:50It's an attack on a rich Spanish port...
0:20:52 > 0:20:56..where he could hope for crude booty, which he could present
0:20:56 > 0:21:00to the Queen as tokens of his triumph and as gifts to her.
0:21:00 > 0:21:02It's the old way of doing things.
0:21:04 > 0:21:06So, Essex heads for Cadiz,
0:21:06 > 0:21:11with 8,000 men on 120 ships on a raid that took three months.
0:21:17 > 0:21:22With Essex away, Cecil has the Queen to himself and he takes the
0:21:22 > 0:21:25opportunity of inviting her to his house and gardens -
0:21:25 > 0:21:27Theobalds in North London.
0:21:34 > 0:21:35He has something to show her.
0:21:38 > 0:21:41Before Essex left, he had sent a note.
0:21:42 > 0:21:46In it, Essex revealed his plan was not just to raid Cadiz,
0:21:46 > 0:21:49but also to establish a garrison there -
0:21:49 > 0:21:52something Elizabeth had expressly ordered him not to do.
0:22:00 > 0:22:04Essex countermanded her orders, which she could never bear.
0:22:04 > 0:22:08Elizabeth was prepared to indulge him up to a point,
0:22:08 > 0:22:14but the more impetuous he grew, the more impatient with him she became.
0:22:14 > 0:22:15That lovely word she used about him,
0:22:15 > 0:22:18a temerarious youth.
0:22:19 > 0:22:23She just thought he was too big for his very elegant golden boots, and
0:22:23 > 0:22:25after a while she got tired of it.
0:22:27 > 0:22:31Cecil is able to convince her to look to the future...
0:22:32 > 0:22:35..beyond the Cadiz raid.
0:22:35 > 0:22:40Elizabeth will know that in leaving the care of the state to
0:22:40 > 0:22:43the Earl of Essex, she's committing it...
0:22:44 > 0:22:48..to, in effect, endless war, and a war that can never really be won...
0:22:50 > 0:22:51..against the might of Spain.
0:23:08 > 0:23:12So, while Essex is away in Cadiz, Cecil gets what he's always wanted.
0:23:14 > 0:23:17Like his father before him, he becomes the Queen's
0:23:17 > 0:23:18Principal Secretary.
0:23:23 > 0:23:26The secretary is the forerunner of what will become
0:23:26 > 0:23:27the Prime Minister.
0:23:27 > 0:23:31The secretary has to be close to the monarch at all times.
0:23:31 > 0:23:34So, to be the secretary
0:23:34 > 0:23:41is to control the politics of the court and to control
0:23:41 > 0:23:43the body of the monarch.
0:23:45 > 0:23:49Essex's raid in Cadiz was a success,
0:23:49 > 0:23:51but he returns to find Cecil in power.
0:23:54 > 0:23:58When Essex came back from Spain,
0:23:58 > 0:24:02Robert Cecil has got the job that really matters.
0:24:02 > 0:24:07Essex can go on flirting with the Queen, he can dance with the Queen,
0:24:07 > 0:24:10he can whisper sweet nothings in her ear,
0:24:10 > 0:24:13but it's clear now that when it comes to business,
0:24:13 > 0:24:15she's not going to listen to Essex.
0:24:16 > 0:24:20It's Robert Cecil who is the coming man.
0:24:25 > 0:24:30After 1596, we see quite how much Elizabeth relies on Cecil
0:24:30 > 0:24:34and, in fact, has always taken Cecil far more seriously
0:24:34 > 0:24:35than she ever took Essex.
0:24:37 > 0:24:39Their relationship begins to look much more intimate,
0:24:39 > 0:24:44at times rather stormy, but much more, um, much more
0:24:44 > 0:24:48kind of reliable and trustworthy, I think, in Elizabeth's view.
0:24:51 > 0:24:55Cecil seems to have won the battle with Essex, but it isn't over yet.
0:24:57 > 0:24:59Cecil has got his position at exactly the wrong time.
0:25:03 > 0:25:06In the late 1590s, there are bad harvests,
0:25:06 > 0:25:10the Black Death breaks out again and there is rioting
0:25:10 > 0:25:12reported across the country.
0:25:14 > 0:25:19And Queen Elizabeth, who has ruled England for almost 40 years,
0:25:19 > 0:25:21is looking tired.
0:25:26 > 0:25:29I really love this picture because I think it really shows Elizabeth
0:25:29 > 0:25:33as an actual human being, rather than an idea,
0:25:33 > 0:25:36although she was so angry with it that it was never allowed
0:25:36 > 0:25:37to be exhibited.
0:25:41 > 0:25:44And here we see her for what she was, which is
0:25:44 > 0:25:46an exhausted old woman.
0:25:48 > 0:25:50She has bags under her eyes.
0:25:50 > 0:25:53We see she's sort of flopping forward.
0:25:53 > 0:25:57The ring of office has fallen from her hand and its resting very
0:25:57 > 0:25:59exhaustedly on her prayer book.
0:25:59 > 0:26:04She looks like someone who's given all her life and her energy to the
0:26:04 > 0:26:10cares of the realm, and it's the opposite of the triumphant portraits
0:26:10 > 0:26:12of the Virgin Queen that we see from mid-reign.
0:26:16 > 0:26:21And yet, to me, it's Elizabeth at her most human because we finally
0:26:21 > 0:26:26see her as a human being, and we have a sense of the extraordinary
0:26:26 > 0:26:30weight of the burden that she carried alone for so very long.
0:26:35 > 0:26:39The succession, the passing of the Crown...
0:26:40 > 0:26:45..from a dead person to a living person is the moment at which
0:26:45 > 0:26:47the early modern state hangs in the balance.
0:26:52 > 0:26:56So, now the spy masters turned their dark attentions on to who will be
0:26:56 > 0:26:58the next King or Queen of England.
0:26:59 > 0:27:02Particularly interesting, as Elizabeth refuses
0:27:02 > 0:27:04to name a successor.
0:27:12 > 0:27:14As Elizabeth has no children,
0:27:14 > 0:27:18the focus turns to her closest relations - her cousins.
0:27:20 > 0:27:25But most of them are Catholics, too old, or have no successor.
0:27:27 > 0:27:30But there is one, who, despite his flaws,
0:27:30 > 0:27:31people are beginning to turn to.
0:27:34 > 0:27:36There are other candidates, but none of them
0:27:36 > 0:27:38is as serious a candidate as James.
0:27:38 > 0:27:41He's Protestant, he's of the Royal blood...
0:27:43 > 0:27:44..he's a man...
0:27:45 > 0:27:47..and he has children.
0:27:47 > 0:27:48He has two sons.
0:28:13 > 0:28:16James, though, has a reputation for being devious.
0:28:16 > 0:28:19He's helplessly extravagant and it's thought
0:28:19 > 0:28:22that he may sleep with both men and women.
0:28:22 > 0:28:25His whole life has been complicated.
0:28:28 > 0:28:32James VI comes to the throne as an infant
0:28:32 > 0:28:36on the back of political violence.
0:28:39 > 0:28:44His father is strangled after an explosion that failed to kill him,
0:28:44 > 0:28:50in which his mother and her lover are implicated.
0:28:52 > 0:28:54But James would love to be King of England.
0:28:56 > 0:29:04James sees himself as, by right, the only true lineal claimant.
0:29:04 > 0:29:10But he's not absolutely certain that that's not going to be upset.
0:29:13 > 0:29:17Elizabeth certainly didn't want James to feel that the Crown was
0:29:17 > 0:29:20assuredly his, because as soon as he began to feel that,
0:29:20 > 0:29:24he could gather allegiance around him, he could begin to plot,
0:29:24 > 0:29:28effectively. So, she very much wanted to make him feel insecure.
0:29:31 > 0:29:33The English Crown hangs in the balance.
0:29:35 > 0:29:38It's a messy situation that Cecil wants to keep on top of.
0:29:42 > 0:29:43Since becoming secretary,
0:29:43 > 0:29:47he has been using government funds to massively expand his spy network.
0:29:48 > 0:29:50Including paying an informant at the Scottish court.
0:29:54 > 0:29:55This informant tells Cecil
0:29:55 > 0:29:59someone using the codename Plato is offering to help James become
0:29:59 > 0:30:01Elizabeth's heir.
0:30:01 > 0:30:03And he soon works out who it is.
0:30:09 > 0:30:13Essex is coming to see that he NEEDS James.
0:30:15 > 0:30:18If he's losing the battle for control over Elizabeth,
0:30:18 > 0:30:20she's not going to last long anyway.
0:30:23 > 0:30:26He also discovers that the Earl of Essex...
0:30:27 > 0:30:31..is denouncing Cecil to James at every opportunity.
0:30:32 > 0:30:34And that Essex is positioning himself...
0:30:35 > 0:30:40..as the King's future right-hand man by the throne of England.
0:30:42 > 0:30:47They were playing for the highest of stakes, and Robert Cecil had every
0:30:47 > 0:30:55reason to fear what Essex's triumph, if it happened, could mean for him.
0:30:58 > 0:31:00If Cecil loses, he dies.
0:31:09 > 0:31:11Cecil is now in a nightmare position.
0:31:13 > 0:31:18He'd love to expose Essex's secret communications with James,
0:31:18 > 0:31:21but if he tells Elizabeth about it, she might rule out
0:31:21 > 0:31:23James' succession -
0:31:23 > 0:31:26the only real option for the future of Protestant England.
0:31:30 > 0:31:35Cecil would like to talk directly to James, but that's tricky too,
0:31:35 > 0:31:37because of a little personal history.
0:31:39 > 0:31:45Because Cecil's father executed James's mother.
0:31:47 > 0:31:51His father had masterminded the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots
0:31:51 > 0:31:55and Robert Cecil was now concerned that James
0:31:55 > 0:31:56might hold that against him.
0:31:58 > 0:32:03But, bizarrely, in reality, James was not that bothered.
0:32:06 > 0:32:09James does not bear a grudge for his mother's execution.
0:32:11 > 0:32:16In many ways, I suppose his mother's execution does him a favour.
0:32:17 > 0:32:22It removes, um, a, an embarrassment,
0:32:22 > 0:32:25in that James is Protestant.
0:32:25 > 0:32:27That can't be said of his mother.
0:32:29 > 0:32:32Cecil, though, can't be certain that James feels that way.
0:32:33 > 0:32:39Cecil knows that he cannot be the one to initiate contact
0:32:39 > 0:32:41with the King of Scotland.
0:32:43 > 0:32:46And, so, for a while, everything is stuck,
0:32:46 > 0:32:49with nobody trusting anybody enough to move forward.
0:33:03 > 0:33:07The Earl of Essex now visits the Queen at her vast palace
0:33:07 > 0:33:10at Greenwich, and he does something he will live to regret.
0:33:14 > 0:33:17He's there to suggest someone he knows for an important position
0:33:17 > 0:33:19in government.
0:33:19 > 0:33:23But the Queen is no longer interested in his opinion
0:33:23 > 0:33:24and laughs at him.
0:33:31 > 0:33:32He lost his temper.
0:33:35 > 0:33:36He is so angry,
0:33:36 > 0:33:39that for a moment it looks like Essex might draw his sword.
0:33:40 > 0:33:43Then he turns his back on her and walks away.
0:33:44 > 0:33:46Ultimately insulting gesture.
0:33:54 > 0:33:57Off he storms into outer darkness.
0:34:03 > 0:34:08He was no more use to her, and really not much more of an ornament.
0:34:08 > 0:34:11So, I think she was quite happy to wash her hands of him.
0:34:13 > 0:34:18Over the next two years, she strips Essex of all his titles.
0:34:18 > 0:34:19He's banned from court.
0:34:21 > 0:34:22Elizabeth must have felt...
0:34:23 > 0:34:27..she was quite safe in just dispatching him...
0:34:29 > 0:34:31..away from court, banning him.
0:34:33 > 0:34:36And that, um, nothing more would happen.
0:34:38 > 0:34:39But, in fact...
0:34:40 > 0:34:43..Essex doesn't consider himself finished.
0:34:48 > 0:34:51So, Essex is sort of saying,
0:34:51 > 0:34:55yes, I realise I'm finished with Elizabeth, but that doesn't matter.
0:34:55 > 0:34:56There's the coming man.
0:34:58 > 0:35:03The great worry, of course, for Cecil is that the further
0:35:03 > 0:35:06Essex is cast from the orbit of Elizabeth,
0:35:06 > 0:35:10the closer he comes to the orbit of James of Scotland.
0:35:12 > 0:35:15And, of course, with each passing day, the Queen gets older.
0:35:15 > 0:35:20And, so, the great denouement of all of this approaches,
0:35:20 > 0:35:22like the ticking of a clock.
0:35:39 > 0:35:42At the turn of the century, England starts
0:35:42 > 0:35:44what will later become an empire.
0:35:45 > 0:35:48The East India Company is formed and merchants set sail for the
0:35:48 > 0:35:52subcontinent to deal in tea, silk, and opium.
0:35:56 > 0:35:58In London, at the New Globe Theatre,
0:35:58 > 0:36:01Shakespeare's Hamlet is performed for the first time.
0:36:04 > 0:36:07And a man known as Norton the bookseller
0:36:07 > 0:36:09is making one of his regular visits to Scotland.
0:36:10 > 0:36:14This time, though, he's carrying secret messages to King James
0:36:14 > 0:36:16from the Earl of Essex.
0:36:26 > 0:36:28Essex asks James to help him.
0:36:30 > 0:36:34"Relieve my poor country that groans under her burden."
0:36:36 > 0:36:39Essex is inviting James to join him in a coup d'etat.
0:36:42 > 0:36:44To signal his approval,
0:36:44 > 0:36:48he asks James to send a reply hidden in the pages of the books.
0:36:52 > 0:36:56He must sanction the overthrow of Elizabeth I,
0:36:56 > 0:36:58and accept the Crown for himself.
0:37:04 > 0:37:06James signals his approval.
0:37:08 > 0:37:09This is...
0:37:11 > 0:37:13..on one level, it's surprising.
0:37:13 > 0:37:18It's surprising in how dangerous this could have been,
0:37:18 > 0:37:20this does seem pretty desperate.
0:37:28 > 0:37:32Once again, Cecil's network is able to tell him everything
0:37:32 > 0:37:33that's going on.
0:37:33 > 0:37:36But he can't expose this conspiracy either.
0:37:37 > 0:37:43This is explosive information of the kind that would absolutely destroy
0:37:43 > 0:37:46James's candidacy for the throne of England.
0:37:49 > 0:37:52So, he takes the risky decision to let Essex try his rebellion.
0:38:04 > 0:38:06By the 7th of February 1601,
0:38:06 > 0:38:11Essex has assembled a force of over 300 armed men at Essex House,
0:38:11 > 0:38:12his palace on the river in London.
0:38:20 > 0:38:23They'll start the rebellion the following day.
0:38:30 > 0:38:36The extraordinary idea is devised, well, it seems extraordinary to us,
0:38:36 > 0:38:39but it also seemed very simple to them.
0:38:39 > 0:38:44The Queen, she's fallen into the hands of this sinister figure,
0:38:44 > 0:38:49Robert Cecil, who is cutting Essex and his friends off
0:38:49 > 0:38:52from the influence that matters.
0:38:52 > 0:38:53What will they do?
0:38:53 > 0:38:59Go down to Whitehall, seize control of the area,
0:38:59 > 0:39:02lock up Cecil, presumably...
0:39:02 > 0:39:07..execute him in due course and take physical control of what was
0:39:07 > 0:39:11the centre of the Elizabethan state - Queen Elizabeth herself.
0:39:16 > 0:39:19But Essex doesn't know that Cecil has had an informant
0:39:19 > 0:39:22inside his house throughout the planning of it.
0:39:24 > 0:39:28Robert Cecil knows pretty much every stage of the preparation.
0:39:31 > 0:39:36And yet, he allows Essex to play out the whole thing.
0:39:44 > 0:39:48The following day, Essex leads his 300 armed followers
0:39:48 > 0:39:49onto the streets of London.
0:39:52 > 0:39:56This is the playing out of treason in public.
0:40:00 > 0:40:05And not only is it conclusive evidence against Essex,
0:40:05 > 0:40:08but Cecil knows where Essex will go next.
0:40:12 > 0:40:14Wherever Essex and his men go,
0:40:14 > 0:40:17they find Cecil has larger forces waiting for them.
0:40:22 > 0:40:25The conspirators went back to Essex House,
0:40:25 > 0:40:29they barricaded themselves inside.
0:40:29 > 0:40:32Cecil now has the whole place surrounded and Essex
0:40:32 > 0:40:34has nowhere left to go.
0:40:34 > 0:40:37Effectively, the conspirators came out with their hands up.
0:40:42 > 0:40:44Essex was an idiot.
0:40:44 > 0:40:47He was an idiot! I mean, he went flouncing around the place
0:40:47 > 0:40:50as though he was some, you know, kind of medieval champion.
0:40:50 > 0:40:54He didn't seem to realise he lived in a modern world which was governed
0:40:54 > 0:40:58by authority, peace, prudence and civil servants.
0:40:58 > 0:41:01For a young man, he was tragically behind the times.
0:41:05 > 0:41:09For a few hours, Elizabeth contemplates forgiving Essex,
0:41:09 > 0:41:12but ultimately decides to sign his death warrant.
0:41:14 > 0:41:15He is beheaded.
0:41:16 > 0:41:18He was 33.
0:41:21 > 0:41:25There's a sadness at the heart of the Essex story, a poignancy.
0:41:25 > 0:41:28Yes, he was a headstrong young man...
0:41:31 > 0:41:32..but what he was in love with...
0:41:34 > 0:41:38..the syndrome he was trying to recreate and preserve...
0:41:40 > 0:41:44..the courtly lover, the courtly servant to the Queen.
0:41:45 > 0:41:48The brave military hero.
0:41:50 > 0:41:55Writing his poems to Elizabeth, believing she would save him
0:41:55 > 0:41:56to the end.
0:41:56 > 0:42:00It was a whole way of life that was doomed.
0:42:01 > 0:42:06But also contained human values...
0:42:10 > 0:42:12..that it was sad to see go.
0:42:20 > 0:42:22Cecil is victorious.
0:42:23 > 0:42:25How did Cecil feel about it is another question.
0:42:28 > 0:42:30Cecil and Essex,
0:42:30 > 0:42:33in relation to Elizabeth I, had been like two feuding brothers,
0:42:33 > 0:42:35feuding for their mother's affection.
0:42:37 > 0:42:43Cecil and Essex in childhood had been like two feuding brothers
0:42:43 > 0:42:46struggling for the affection or approval of William Cecil.
0:42:49 > 0:42:53So we have to assume that some kind of guilty feelings...
0:42:54 > 0:42:55..almost fratricidal...
0:42:56 > 0:42:58..emotions...
0:43:00 > 0:43:03..it's impossible not to feel...
0:43:05 > 0:43:08..some kind of pity...
0:43:09 > 0:43:10..for Robert Cecil,
0:43:10 > 0:43:14who, the more he succeeds,
0:43:14 > 0:43:16the more isolated he becomes.
0:43:16 > 0:43:20And the longer he stays in the game, the lonelier he becomes.
0:43:21 > 0:43:25That he is edging up and up and up...
0:43:26 > 0:43:28..and yet becoming more and more...
0:43:31 > 0:43:33..single and alone and isolated.
0:43:36 > 0:43:40Whatever the psychological cost, Cecil seems to be winning.
0:43:41 > 0:43:43But there is only one thing that slips his attention.
0:43:45 > 0:43:49In the Tower of London, the Catholic priest, John Gerard,
0:43:49 > 0:43:51makes a slightly strange request.
0:43:55 > 0:43:59He asks for some lemons, which his jailers can't see a problem with.
0:44:07 > 0:44:12Gerard communicated with his friends on the outside with lemon juice.
0:44:13 > 0:44:15When it dries, it would be invisible.
0:44:16 > 0:44:21But then if you dip that paper in water, the writing comes out.
0:44:25 > 0:44:28And so he begins a secret communication with Catholics
0:44:28 > 0:44:30in London, asking to be rescued.
0:44:36 > 0:44:38Cecil is unaware of this.
0:44:38 > 0:44:42He's still thinking about how he can work with King James of Scotland.
0:44:52 > 0:44:56In Scotland, news of Essex's failed rebellion reaches James.
0:44:59 > 0:45:01And with Essex dead,
0:45:01 > 0:45:04James needs someone else to help him become King of England.
0:45:21 > 0:45:25In May 1601, two men ask to meet Cecil.
0:45:32 > 0:45:35They said that James wants Cecil to work for him
0:45:35 > 0:45:37inside Elizabeth's court.
0:45:41 > 0:45:45Cecil has to assess... firstly whether he can believe this.
0:45:45 > 0:45:48This is just after the Essex rebellion.
0:45:49 > 0:45:52He knows that James and Essex were in contact.
0:45:55 > 0:46:00So, Cecil's immediate worry has to be that this is a set-up.
0:46:02 > 0:46:05So it takes two weeks before Cecil gives a reply.
0:46:06 > 0:46:11And in that time, we can assume that he's doing everything he can to try
0:46:11 > 0:46:14and see around the corners here and work out whether this is a genuine,
0:46:14 > 0:46:17sincere offer and this is going to be the road that leads
0:46:17 > 0:46:20quite directly to the succession,
0:46:20 > 0:46:24or whether this is a dark and convoluted path, which will end up
0:46:24 > 0:46:28in Cecil being implicated in a treasonous correspondence.
0:46:32 > 0:46:36Robert Cecil wasn't right to think that this was a trap.
0:46:36 > 0:46:42Indeed, his ambassadors write this to him.
0:46:42 > 0:46:43They make plain to him
0:46:43 > 0:46:47that there is a great difference between vigilancy and credulity.
0:46:48 > 0:46:51You know, they didn't have coffee, but you need to wake up and
0:46:51 > 0:46:53smell it.
0:46:53 > 0:46:55Cecil decides to go for it.
0:46:55 > 0:46:56He opens the correspondence.
0:47:06 > 0:47:09Cecil penetrated Essex's conspiracy with James.
0:47:10 > 0:47:13He goes to elaborate lengths to ensure this won't happen to him.
0:47:15 > 0:47:19Cecil refers to himself and James in code.
0:47:19 > 0:47:22They are 10 and 30.
0:47:22 > 0:47:24The letters are not written in Cecil's own hand,
0:47:24 > 0:47:25but by a trusted proxy.
0:47:27 > 0:47:30They're then given to a courier, known as the pigeon,
0:47:30 > 0:47:35a hand-picked agent who uses a diplomatic bag that can't be search,
0:47:35 > 0:47:37to take them to the king.
0:47:47 > 0:47:50"Your best approach," he tells James,
0:47:50 > 0:47:53"is to prefer quietness over needless expostulation."
0:48:00 > 0:48:04He advises James to take a step back, not to press Elizabeth.
0:48:04 > 0:48:09And it's into that space that Cecil will then place himself
0:48:09 > 0:48:14as the intermediary, as the only intermediary who can bring about
0:48:14 > 0:48:16the succession that both he and James want.
0:48:19 > 0:48:23This makes perfect sense to James in those circumstances.
0:48:23 > 0:48:26He can then correspond with Elizabeth less often
0:48:26 > 0:48:31and in a less fraught sort of way and in a less needly sort of way.
0:48:31 > 0:48:32So, in that sense,
0:48:32 > 0:48:38the correspondence with Cecil does help to reduce tensions between
0:48:38 > 0:48:42the two monarchs that had been developing through the 1590s.
0:48:47 > 0:48:51By late 1602, Cecil has James in the palm of his hand.
0:48:52 > 0:48:54But the real pawn of this manipulation
0:48:54 > 0:48:58is not the Scottish King, but the ageing English Queen.
0:49:02 > 0:49:08"I've spent all my life," Elizabeth says, "in little rooms."
0:49:08 > 0:49:11And I thought that was the best description of her I'd ever read.
0:49:11 > 0:49:14Because actually, in many ways,
0:49:14 > 0:49:18she lived a very confined and constricted life.
0:49:18 > 0:49:22And much of her life, although its public aspect was so splendid,
0:49:22 > 0:49:27so formal, so magnificent, was spent in confined spaces,
0:49:27 > 0:49:30guarded and never on her own.
0:49:36 > 0:49:38This world of spiery,
0:49:38 > 0:49:44of conspiracies and small candlelit rooms, where danger was always
0:49:44 > 0:49:47lurking outside the door and you were never quite sure
0:49:47 > 0:49:49what was going to happen when someone entered.
0:49:49 > 0:49:53And I do wonder if, at the end of her life,
0:49:53 > 0:49:58Elizabeth didn't feel that affinity rather regretfully.
0:50:05 > 0:50:08Cecil is, in some ways, responsible for this.
0:50:08 > 0:50:10Prisoners live in little rooms.
0:50:11 > 0:50:15And Cecil, in guaranteeing her survival,
0:50:15 > 0:50:20has boxed her in, in a small space and it does suit him, of course,
0:50:20 > 0:50:22to have her manageable and contained.
0:50:46 > 0:50:50Inside the Tower of London, under the noses of his jailers,
0:50:50 > 0:50:54Father John Gerard has been busy running his Catholic network,
0:50:54 > 0:50:57sending instructions to Catholic nobles.
0:50:58 > 0:51:00Now, though, it's time to leave.
0:51:03 > 0:51:05Gerard bribes the warder a little bit,
0:51:05 > 0:51:09to allow him to just cross the courtyard of where his cell is,
0:51:09 > 0:51:10over to the Cradle Tower.
0:51:14 > 0:51:17Gerard now throws a cord down to his friends,
0:51:17 > 0:51:18to create a primitive zip wire.
0:51:23 > 0:51:26But he has to climb down the rope with hands swollen by torture.
0:51:30 > 0:51:35He starts, he grabs the rope, and very soon he swings round, and has
0:51:35 > 0:51:40to do the rest of it hanging upside down, and halfway across, he stops.
0:51:40 > 0:51:45He's exhausted and he just dangles there lifelessly.
0:51:49 > 0:51:52But he said he got the faith from his prayers,
0:51:52 > 0:51:54the prayers of his friends and from God.
0:51:57 > 0:52:00And somehow he got over that rope,
0:52:00 > 0:52:04he got right to the end of the wharf, then one of his followers
0:52:04 > 0:52:09grabbed his legs, hoiked him over, and got him, basically almost
0:52:09 > 0:52:13had to carry him into the boat, and then they rowed for their lives.
0:52:57 > 0:53:01A monarch dies in public, and so Elizabeth's court
0:53:01 > 0:53:03has gathered around her bedside.
0:53:11 > 0:53:16Her life has contracted down from the palaces to a few rooms,
0:53:16 > 0:53:19to her bedroom, and now the bed in which she will die.
0:53:20 > 0:53:22In her last 24 hours of life...
0:53:23 > 0:53:26..she cannot move or speak.
0:53:37 > 0:53:39And it is only then that Cecil...
0:53:41 > 0:53:43..leans over...
0:53:44 > 0:53:48..and asks, will it be the King of the Scots?
0:54:12 > 0:54:14And she puts a hand to her face
0:54:14 > 0:54:17when James's name is mentioned.
0:54:21 > 0:54:24People do that when they have bad news.
0:54:27 > 0:54:32It's Robert Cecil who interprets this gesture,
0:54:32 > 0:54:36that she wanted the King of the Scots to succeed her.
0:54:43 > 0:54:47The audience in this room, the councillors
0:54:47 > 0:54:49squashed into this small space,
0:54:49 > 0:54:54they all knew Cecil was the most powerful man in government.
0:54:56 > 0:55:01So they have to play their part in this script,
0:55:01 > 0:55:04regardless of what their private thoughts might be.
0:55:07 > 0:55:09They have to acknowledge James...
0:55:10 > 0:55:15..because Cecil has arranged...
0:55:17 > 0:55:19..this as only having one outcome.
0:55:24 > 0:55:26Elizabeth never recovers the power of speech
0:55:26 > 0:55:29and dies in the early hours of the morning.
0:55:31 > 0:55:33On the 24th of March 1603,
0:55:33 > 0:55:36Cecil proclaims James as the new King of England.
0:55:39 > 0:55:45For Cecil, this must have been a moment of dizzying responsibility
0:55:45 > 0:55:48and gratifying power.
0:55:49 > 0:55:52He now holds the reins.
0:55:52 > 0:55:55He has managed the death of Elizabeth...
0:55:56 > 0:55:58..and he's going to now manage...
0:55:59 > 0:56:02..the arrival of James of Scotland.
0:56:13 > 0:56:20When Robert Cecil comes out of the palace the morning after
0:56:20 > 0:56:22Elizabeth has died...
0:56:23 > 0:56:27..he has exchanged one sea of troubles for another.
0:56:31 > 0:56:33James is...
0:56:34 > 0:56:37..not the same as Elizabeth.
0:56:40 > 0:56:44And Cecil cannot expect...
0:56:46 > 0:56:49..this to be the same sort of gig.
0:56:50 > 0:56:56So we enter, in the spring of 1603, into an uncertain world.
0:57:06 > 0:57:08And what's more, John Gerard is on the loose.
0:57:10 > 0:57:15Gerard is hungrier than ever, and he's also got this sort of aura
0:57:15 > 0:57:17about him now. He has escaped.
0:57:17 > 0:57:19He has escaped from the Tower of London.
0:57:19 > 0:57:22There's almost a sort of sense of untouchability to him.
0:57:26 > 0:57:30He will soon meet a man called Guido Fawkes,
0:57:30 > 0:57:34as they devise their master plan - the Gunpowder Plot.
0:57:34 > 0:57:36And it's Cecil's job to stop it.
0:58:19 > 0:58:2236 barrels of gunpowder under the Houses of Parliament.
0:58:24 > 0:58:27They are going to have the impact of a small-scale nuclear bomb.
0:58:27 > 0:58:29It's going to be a hell of a bang.
0:58:29 > 0:58:31The clock is ticking.
0:58:31 > 0:58:34It's midnight in the Palace of Whitehall by now,
0:58:34 > 0:58:36Parliament will open in a matter of hours.
0:58:36 > 0:58:38It's Cecil's ultimate test.
0:58:41 > 0:58:47And the name which comes up is that of Cecil's old enemy, John Gerard.