Spying is often known as ‘the second oldest’ profession – and with good reason. As long as there have been competing states or nations, spies and their spymasters have sought to defend their interests.

As a statesman and spymaster at the heart of the Tudor and Stuart state, Robert Cecil was one such vital figure, managing the succession from Elizabeth I to James I and IV and warding off military and religious threats, including the Spanish Armada and the Gunpowder Plot.

Historian Stephen Alford knows how the outcome for British history could have been very different. Hear from him as he explores how Cecil’s sureness of purpose, his espionage network and good luck conspired to keep England uninvaded and to create a new ‘British’ monarchy which has endured to the present day.

Stephen Alford is an historian and academic, currently Professor of Early Modern British History at the University of Leeds. He previously taught for fifteen years at Cambridge University, where he was a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of History and a Fellow of King’s College. Stephen is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and the author of several books, including The Watchers: A Secret History of the Reign of Elizabeth and All His Spies: The Secret World of Robert Cecil.