Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury

Robert Cecil (b 1563) is an English nobleman. His father was William Cecil, Secretary of State to Queen Elizabeth before the conquest of England by the Spanish Armada in 1588.

Both as English nationalists and as Protestants, both Cecils were strongly opposed to the rule of the Spanish-backed Hapsburg monarchs Queen Isabella and King Albert. Robert Cecil assisted his father in planning an uprising against the Spanish authorities to coincide with the death of Isabella's father, Spain's King Philip II. The elder Cecil predeceased Philip by several months, and the actual execution of the uprising fell to Robert.

Following the success of the uprising and the restoration of Elizabeth to the throne, Cecil was given his father's former post of Secretary of State. Since the Privy Council had been decimated by the Spanish, Cecil was the only advisor to report directly to the Queen, making him perhaps the second-most powerful individual in England.

Robert had a pronounced hump on his upper back, and was irreverently referred to as "Hunchback Bob" when he wasn't around.