2 June 2016

· The Exeter pedigree, from the 8th Marquess back to William Cecil ·

I haven’t any new poems ready, so I thought I’d give you history in the guise of time travel. Show you how closely connected the 21st century is to my era. Generations succeed generations in the blink of an eye, centuries are wingèd things. When you too have been around for 466 years, you won’t need to take my word for it.
There were no Exeters in the ranks of the nobility during the years I was breathing, but the Exeter title looms large in my work and life.

The Exeter you find first in my history plays is the Duke who began his acting career in Henry V, informing his sovereign in early 1415 that the Dauphin’s gift was a box full of tennis balls. Henry, affronted by this Gallic trollage, sailed an army across the Channel and annihilated the Dauphin in straight sets at Roland-Garros with longbows at Agincourt.

Tennis-balls, my liege.
The Duke of Exeter (Brian Blessed) in Kenneth Branagh’s
1989 film Henry V. Historically, Exeter wasn’t made
Duke until after Agincourt. Dramatic licence.

This Exeter was Henry V’s paternal uncle, Thomas Beaufort– Henry IV’s illegitimate half-brother, subsequently legitimised by royal and papal decrees. I’ll skip the complicated romantic history of John of Gaunt, but his affair-then-marriage to Katherine Swynford resulted in the Beaufort line of fractious Lancastrians, from which later sprang the Tudors.

Beaufort/Exeter also appeared in Henry VI Part 1. After Henry V’s early death in 1422, Exeter was guardian and councillor to his great-nephew, the half-witted disaster Henry VI. Anton Lesser played Exeter in the adapted-by-chainsaw series The Hollow Crown: The Wars of the Roses recently shown on BBC2. In reality Exeter died in 1426, so he wasn’t around for the mid-century Temple Garden rose-plucking contretemps (more dramatic licence), nor the chromatic hostilities which followed.

A different Exeter, Henry Holland, 3rd Duke, appears in Henry VI Part 3. Many people miss this. Even Open Source Shakespeare assumes that it’s still Thomas Beaufort, despite the fact that Beaufort had been dead for more than thirty years by this point, and in the text I had Halfwit Henry refer to this Exeter three times as cousin. They were both great-grandsons of randy old John of Gaunt. OSS also describes Thomas Beaufort as Henry IV’s uncle, not his half-brother. I give up.

Now we jump ahead, leaving my plays and the 15th century behind.

In the first part of the 16th century there was a Courtenay Marquess of Exeter, but we won’t bother with him. (A marquess ranks below a duke but above an earl.) From 1539 until 1605 there were no Exeters at all. I was around from 1550 to 1604. Now we’ve reached the early days of the 17th century. Elizabeth’s Stuart successor, James VI and I, recreated the Exeter title, bestowing an earldom upon my brother-in-law Thomas Cecil. (Little brother Rob got the earldom of Salisbury.)

Rather than continue from 1605, we’re going to jump again, forward four centuries to the present Marquess of Exeter. Then we’ll travel back through the generations to return to Brother Tom, and his father too. We can do this because the title has remained in the Cecil family for 411 years.

Coat of arms of the Marquess of Exeter.
If you’re into heraldry, it’s described as: Barry of ten
Argent and Azure six escutcheons Sable 3, 2, 1 each
charged with a rampant lion Argent langued Gules.

• William Michael Anthony Cecil (Michael)
• 8th Marquess of Exeter (held title 1988 – )
• • 1 Sept 1935 – (still living) – Canadian
• • Lord Burghley from 1981 to 1988 – this is the style that designates the eldest son while his father is Marquess. It derives directly from my father-in-law William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley. We’ll get to him.
• • Inherited leadership roles in his family’s ranching and spiritual enterprises in Cariboo, British Columbia, which he left when he moved to the US in 1996. See 2003 article: Leader left Divine Light behind him [web.archive.org]
• • Presently a lifestyle mentor and ‘energy practitioner’ at the Ashland Institute in Ashland, Oregon. [April 2025: the Institute’s website is gone. Out of energy.]
• • His ex-wife (and mother of his heir) is the daughter of Lloyd Arthur Meeker. See entry for 7th Marquess.
• • Remarried in 1999, has since returned to British Columbia.

Michael is the eldest son of:

• William Martin Alleyne Cecil (Martin)
• 7th Marquess of Exeter (held title 1981 – 1988)
• • 27 Apr 1909 – 12 Jan 1988 – Anglo-Canadian
• • Lord Martin Cecil until 1981
• • As second son of the 5th Marquess, Martin emigrated to Canada in 1930 to run the family’s estate/ranch at 100 Mile House, Cariboo, BC.
• • In the late 1940s he became involved with Lloyd Arthur Meeker, an American travelling-salesman-turned-ecstatic-visionary, a Joseph Smith type minus the sacred undergarments. Martin assisted Meeker (known as Uranda) in founding and leading a quasi-religious organisation, the Emissaries of Divine Light. See link mentioned in entry for 8th Marquess. Martin became sole leader in 1954 after Meeker and four others died when the plane Meeker was piloting crashed.
• • Inherited the Exeter title from his elder brother David, 6th Marquess, who died in 1981 without a male heir.

Martin was the younger brother of:

• David George Brownlow Cecil KCMG
• 6th Marquess of Exeter (held title 1956 – 1981)
• • 9 Feb 1905 – 21 Oct 1981 – English (all are English from here back)
• • Lord Burghley from 1918 to 1956
• • Athlete, international sports official, and conservative politician
• • Gold medallist in the 400-metre hurdles at the 1928 Olympics
• • Inspiration for the character of Lord Andrew Lindsay in the 1981 film Chariots of Fire. The Great Court Run is basically true, although David was not beaten by another runner. (Dramatic licence, again.)

That’s Lindsay/Cecil on the right, in the film.

David was the eldest son of:

• William Thomas Brownlow Cecil KG CMG TD
• 5th Marquess of Exeter (held title 1918 – 1956)
• • 27 Oct 1876 – 6 Aug 1956
• • Lord Burghley from 1895 to 1918

William was the only son (only child) of:

• Brownlow Henry George Cecil PC DL
• 4th Marquess of Exeter (held title 1895 – 1918)
• • 20 Dec 1849 – 9 Apr 1918
• • Lord Burghley from 1867 to 1895
• • Conservative politician

Brownlow was the eldest son of:

• William Alleyne Cecil PC
• 3rd Marquess of Exeter (held title 1867 – 1895)
• • 30 Apr 1825 – 14 Jul 1895
• • Lord Burghley from birth to 1867
• • Conservative politician
• • Like his father, played first-class cricket (1847-1851)

William was the eldest son of:

• Brownlow Cecil KG PC
• 2nd Marquess of Exeter (held title 1804 – 1867)
• • 2 Jul 1795 – 16 Jan 1867
• • Lord Burghley from birth to 1804
• • Courtier and conservative politician
• • First-class cricketer in 1817
• • Inherited the title at age eight

Brownlow was the eldest son of:

• Henry Cecil
• 1st Marquess of Exeter (held title 1801 – 1804)
• 10th Earl of Exeter (held title 1793 – 1801)
• • 14 Mar 1754 – 1 May 1804
• • The Honourable Henry Cecil from birth to 1793
• • Father was the Honourable Thomas Chambers Cecil, the profligate and dissipated second son of the 8th Earl
• • Mother was allegedly a Basque dancing girl his father married during his exile in Belgium
• • Raised from infancy as heir presumptive by his childless uncle Brownlow, 9th Earl, at Burghley House, the Exeter family seat

Burghley House, Stamford, Lincolnshire. Built by William
Cecil between 1558 and 1587. During most of my minority
he was my guardian and financial controller. A significant
portion of my inheritance found its way into this house.
Touchy subject.

• • Inherited title as 10th Earl of Exeter in 1793
• • Was created (1st) Marquess of Exeter (second creation) by George III in February 1801. It was a promotion at work from the CEO.

Henry was the nephew of:

• Brownlow Cecil
• 9th Earl of Exeter (held title 1754 – 1793)
• • 21 Sept 1725 – 26 Dec 1793
• • Lord Burghley from birth to 1754
• • Had no children

Brownlow was the eldest son of:

• Brownlow Cecil
• 8th Earl of Exeter (held title 1722 – 1754)
• • 4 Aug 1701 – 3 Nov 1754
• • The Honourable Brownlow Cecil from birth to 1722
• • Inherited the title from his heirless elder brother John, 7th Earl

Brownlow was the younger brother of:

• John Cecil
• 7th Earl of Exeter (held title 1721 – 1722)
• • 27 Feb 1700 – 9 Apr 1722
• • Lord Burghley from birth to 1721
• • Died, unmarried, at age 22
• • Held the title for just three months

John was the eldest son of:

• John Cecil
• 6th Earl of Exeter (held title 1700 – 1721)
• • 15 May 1674 – 24 Dec 1721
• • Lord Burghley from 1678 to 1700
• • John’s second wife, by whom he had his sons the 7th and 8th Earls, was Elizabeth Brownlow. Her surname became the given name used in later generations. Elizabeth’s father Sir John Brownlow, a baronet, was driven by the agony of gout to commit suicide in 1697, at the age of 38. I’ll guess that Elizabeth named her second son in memory of her late father. That son inherited, and the tradition carried on from there.

John was the only surviving son of:

• John Cecil
• 5th Earl of Exeter (held title 1678 – 1700)
• • c. 1648 – 29 Aug 1700
• • Lord Burghley until 1678
• • Known as the Travelling Earl, for his European grand touring, including extensive travels in Italy. If you know even a little bit about my life, you’ll appreciate the irony in that.
• • Was one of the nobles who deserted James II in 1688, pledging allegiance to William of Orange in the Glorious Revolution

John was the only son (only child) of:

• John Cecil
• 4th Earl of Exeter (held title 1643 – 1678)
• • 1628 – 18 Mar 1678
• • Lord Burghley from 1640 to 1643

John was the son of:

• David Cecil
• 3rd Earl of Exeter (held title 1640 – 1643)
• • c. 1600 – 18 Apr 1643
• • Father was Sir Richard Cecil, second son of Thomas, 1st Earl
• • Succeeded his uncle William, 2nd Earl, in 1640
• • Held the title for just three years

David was the nephew of:

• William Cecil KG PC
• 2nd Earl of Exeter (held title 1623 – 1640)
• • Jan 1566 – 6 Jul 1640
• • Lord Burghley from 1605 to 1623
• • By his first wife Elizabeth Manners he had one son (William Cecil, 16th Baron de Ros of Helmsley), who predeceased him
• • By his second wife Elizabeth Drury he had three daughters: Elizabeth, and twins Diana and Anne

My not-yet-daughter-in-law, Diana Cecil,
painted in 1614 when she was 18,
by William Larkin

Henry de Vere, 18th Earl of Oxford, my son and heir by my second wife Elizabeth Trentham, married William’s daughter Lady Diana Cecil on 1 January 1624. Being deceased, I was unable to attend the wedding. As a bride Diana brought Henry a dowry of thirty thousand pounds in addition to her beauty. You’ll have to take my word about the money, but the beauty you can see for yourself.

Update, 26 September 2025: It appears that a later painting of Diana by Anthony van Dyck which I also included in the original post was misidentified as Diana (not by me) but was actually Beatrix, the Frisian wife of Henry’s successor. Well, better fixed late than never fixed. There’s another portrait of the older Diana but it’s a dark copy (she wears widow’s weeds) and the dating is vague, so this lovely one alone will do.

In June 1625, Henry, a colonel in a volunteer regiment fighting in the Low Countries for the Elector Palatine, died of illness at Breda at the age of only thirty-two. Sadly, Henry and Diana had no children during their short marriage. The Oxford earldom was then inherited by Robert de Vere, a second cousin. Succeeding Robert was his son Aubrey, a Royalist during the Civil Wars. Aubrey was the 20th and last of the de Vere earls of Oxford. The line had run without interruption from 1141 to 1702, 562 years. A bit longer than the blink of an eye.

William was the eldest surviving son of:

• Thomas Cecil KG – and we’ve made it back to Brother Tom
• 1st Earl of Exeter (held title 1605 – 1623)
• 2nd Baron Burghley (held title 1598 – 1605)
• • 5 Mar 1542 – 8 Feb 1623
• • Eldest son of William Cecil by his first wife Mary Cheke
• • Older half-brother to my first wife Anne, her sister Elizabeth, and Robert
• • Hardly fit to govern a tennis court was his father’s unusually concise assessment. Tom was a genial hail-fellow-well-met, but little brother Rob got the brains along with the crooked spine.
• • Created (1st) Earl of Exeter by James VI and I on 4 May 1605. Robert was created (1st) Earl of Salisbury on the same day. James owed the fact of his uncontested succession to the English throne to the Cecils – not so much Tom, but Robert and the late William. Couldn’t make Rob an earl without doing the same for Tom though, it would look bad. A throne for two earldoms? A bargain.

Thomas was the eldest son of:

• William Cecil KG PC
• 1st Baron Burghley (also spelled Burleigh) (held title 1571 – 1598)
• • 13 Sept 1521 – 4 Aug 1598
• • Lord High Treasurer and Secretary of State, the power behind Elizabeth’s throne
• • Created (1st) Baron Burghley by Elizabeth I on 25 February 1571, in order that his daughter Anne would have social standing high enough to be married to an earl (me). It didn’t do her father any harm either.
• • Builder of Cecil House in London, Burghley House in Lincolnshire, and Theobalds in Hertfordshire

Founder of the line. My guardian during much of my minority, then my father-in-law. It was not a happy relationship. [PDF, theatlantic.com] To conclude our genealogical journey, we go back to the future. The present Marquess’s only son is the heir apparent, who (barring mishap) will become the 9th Marquess of Exeter upon his father’s death.

• Anthony John Cecil
• Lord Burghley (held title 1988 – )
• • 9 Aug 1970 – (still living)
• • Grandson of both the 7th Marquess and Lloyd Meeker, the two co-⁠founders of the Emissaries of Divine Light
• • Married in 1996
• • Has one daughter

If Anthony has no son, the next in line to inherit the marquessate after him will be Hugh William Amherst Cecil, 5th Baron Amherst of Hackney, born 17 July 1968. Hugh is the great-great-grandson of Colonel Lord William Cecil, the third son of the 3rd Marquess. (There are people who figure these things out.) Hugh’s heir, in turn, is his son the Honourable Jack William Amherst Cecil, born 13 July 2001.

And we’ve come full circle to the 21st century, where we began.

See?

VERO NIHIL VERIUS